Maximum Ride: Wings vs Wands
by Madeline Cullen
Summary: Max and the flock have been captured by the Order of the Phoenix. On Jeb's orders. What's their mission? Make sure the Ministry doesn't mess up Hogwarts. "Fang wanted to live on a vacant island. Well this is as close as it was going to get," I muttered.
1. Magic? Say what?

**A/N: Takes place after STWAOES and at the beginning of Order of the Phoenix. And if you are really nitpicky, it's AU to Dark Blue (my fanfic, not the TNT TV series) after the one that's labeled "Chapter 20."**

**Beta: eclipsed heart**

Maximum Ride: Wings vs. Wands

I sighed as we took roost (don't get me started on the rooster jokes, I _will_ kill you) in a cave somewhere in Europe.

The Voice had told us to go to some coordinates. Not that I was too pleased with that. As soon as we get back from Germany, we have to go straight back to Europe, and make Angel go to all that trouble (okay, so she has some sort of morbid like for it) of "convincing" the airport people to let us on and get us the first class seats.

And the trip here was a bit…icky.

Claustrophobia and whatnot since we were in the tinnier of planes, but the first class meals and stuff was nice…And plus, we didn't have to worry about the plane going down. If it did, we could just open the emergency hatch thing, snap our wings open and be all "Hasta la vista, baby!"

Who are we?

Well, you would know if you had read books one through three!

Anyways, Angel is seven, (as she loves to tell me) she is my baby. And she has a freaking long list of things no other seven year old should be able to do. The Gasman (Gazzy) is nine. Don't ask about his name, just stay upwind and know that the kid has one funky digestive system. They are also related.

Then there's Nudge, she twelve and a big talker. We call it the Nudge Channel: All Nudge, all the time. It's how she got her name, we'd used to have to nudge her to get her to shut up. It just fits.

And Total, who is Angel's talking Scottie dog.

Then we get to us older kids.

Iggy is fifteen, and the youngest of us fifteen year olds. He's blind, he's good with matches and bombs, is a très bien chef. He's also sarcastic as heck.

If you are up to date on who Tally is, good for you. If not, that's fine too. You'll learn who she is anyways.

Talon Ghost, well, we found her a while ago. She had escaped from a place called the Facility, apparently some sister company to the School and collapsed in front of us. Well, she's also fifteen, mute, is very obsessive about cleaning (watch out if she starts glaring at you, probably means you left a speck of dirt on your shoes or something) and an overall near opposite of her brother. Meaning she loves to prank.

Her brother? A Mister Stoic, voted most likely to become a cult leader, Fang. Fang is my second in command, dark, elegant, all over great kisser—what the heck am I doing thinking that? Anyways, Fang is the older twin brother of Tally, and it's very eerie how much alike they are. And how different.

Then there's me. Maximum Ride. But that's a mouth full, so call me Max. I am the all powerful freak that both leads the little band of misfits I have come to call family and flock, not to mention the person that's supposed to save the world.

No pressure, right?

"What's so special about _you_ guys?" You probably are asking.

Simple.

We have wings.

Some whack-job scientists decided that they wanted to mess around with the DNA of birds and human babies, so they got super enhanced kids that had wings on their backs and one heck of a rebellious streak. (If wanting to be _free_ of torture and experiments is rebellious)

So they would try and get us any time they wanted with Erasers (lupine-human hybrids. The scientific equivalent of werewolves) and Flyboys (the robotic version of the Erasers that don't have any smart comebacks programmed into them).

Anyways, so why are we in Europe? Because I have a nifty Voice in my head that tells me what to do…not my own Voice, but somebody else who talks to me, so no hauling me off to the loony bin yet. Yet. (Though I'm sure Fang would _love_ to do that to me, take me kicking and screaming while the rest of the Flock laughs their butts off.)

And so, after we got off our ritzy airplane ride, we flew around and ended up somewhere in Surrey.

Iggy got a kick out of all the food names and us older kids nearly turned blue when we saw the desert menu. (Spotted dick anyone? Yes, we're immature. Deal with it. We need some comic relief in our hectic lives.)

"Why aren't you in a hotel?" Well, because Tally about had a hissy fit when she saw the shady characters in cloaks walking by everywhere (not that I didn't) and so we opted to stay incognito and sleep in the nearest cave.

Which always turns out to be a bad thing when you are suddenly tied up and knocked out by a bunch of weird lights.

* * *

I woke up feeling like an Eraser had clobbered me, groggy and completely grossed. Pissed off.

But then I felt the rope tied firmly around me and it all came back to me. I was on watch and them we were captured.

Well, that's the last time I reminisce while on watch.

I turned my head to look at my flock. Tally was awake and tugging against the rope with Fang in front of them, their black hair flopping in front of their eyes as they attempted to get out of their bindings with fierce determination.

Iggy was limp, but his eyes were open and he had this hopeless expression on his face, Nudge right by his side with a mirror image expression.

The Gasman was just waking up and Angel had turned to look at me hopefully. Total was hogtied next to her, muttering things not very kind for a seven year old to hear.

"Ugh…where are we, Max?" asked Gazzy.

I frowned and looked at our surroundings.

It was a very dreary room, peeling wallpaper, wrought iron beds and that moving picture—

Wait! Moving picture?

Should I be surprised? No, the whitecoats had come up with moving pictures before, except it was more of a "zoom" than actually moving person. Maybe it was prerecorded? Like a TV, yeah.

"I don't know, Gazzy," I admitted, turning to glare at the door. "But whoever captured us is going to regret it."

* * *

"Albus! But why did you have them capture children! They don't have wings!" Molly Weasley said, outraged.

"Those children will be of help," he said sagely. "And the Volaticii are able to hide their wings, Molly."

"But they're _children!_ They shouldn't be tied up!"

"As much as I trust you, Albus, I don't think tying up a bunch of specky little brats is going to do us much, either," Sirius Black said, summoning a butterbeer lazily.

Albus Dumbledore gave a serene smile, "On the contrary, the Volaticii that I had you capture have been known to rebel violently against authority, so they might help with the situation at Hogwarts."

Molly balked, "You brought them in to _revolt_ against the _Ministry of Magic?_"

Albus's eyes twinkled, "Of course not Molly. They have free will; they can do what they like."

"But that doesn't answer my question!" she protested as the Headmaster walked away to the room in which the "children" were being held.

* * *

A snarl almost immediately came to my features when an old crippled looking man in a bright purple and stars robe came in. Was he trying to look like that guy Merlin from _The Sword in the Stone_? He sure as heck looked like it.

"Hello, Miss, my name is Albus Dumbledore, I suppose you must be wondering why you are here," he said loftily.

"No duh, freakazoid," I leered, narrowing my eyes into a glare.

The people behind him stiffened. Obviously, this was the head honcho.

"Well, I do apologize for the manner in which you were contacted," he said.

Contacted? More like bound, gagged and thrown into a room to seethe! Maybe Fang should haul _this _guy off to the loony bin instead of me.

"But there was no other way. Your guardian, Jeb, said that this would be the most efficient way to ensure your cooperation."

I think a cold bucket of water went down all of our backs, because we all froze when he mentioned Jeb.

In case you're wondering, Jeb is the Spawn of Satan, quadruple agent, and apparently my father. He was a whitecoat who let us out of our dog crates, (yes, that is not a big typo. I mean _dog crates_. Like for things that go, "Bow-wow_._"And I don't mean Total.) raised us, backstabbed us, and then came back saying he was a good guy all along. Just more complicated stuff in the life of a bird kid.

"Well, _Jeb_," I spat the name out like it was some horrible tasting cookie. I was never going to accept him as my father. "Can go jump off a cliff. I would've paid attention if you had contacted me _politely._"

Total coughed.

"Okay, so maybe I wouldn't have listened, may I would've. Now what the heck does Jeb _want?_"

* * *

Tally sighed as she was untied. Max loved to protect them, really, but did that mean she had to snarl at everyone?

So the funky weird dude with the pointy hat and weird glasses was a bit loopy, fine, and no one really trusted these people that had _kidnapped_ them, but did that mean Max had to blow a gasket?

Well, yeah. It probably did mean that.

Tally looked at the man that had brandished a polished stick of wood at them (also in robes) and removed their ropes with a lazy flick of his wrist.

And that freaked the heck out of everyone, so now they were all on guard and giving everything a suspicious look. At least the older kids who could see. The younger ones were just in awe from what she could tell.

"Why don't I take the rest of your…flock to eat something? Let you and Albus talk, Miss…"

"Max Ride," she said. "Guys, follow this lady…be careful."

Translation: Don't eat anything. Try feeding it to Total first. Map out escape routes and make notes on anything fishy.

Tally gave a covert nod before walking out first behind the red haired plump woman, stuffing her gloved hands into her pockets.

Iggy was right behind her, his finger looped through the belt loop of her jeans.

* * *

"So, you want us to basically raise heck and help you guys out…and in turn we'll get protection and learn about…magic," I said slowly.

"Yes, yes, essentially."

I leaned back onto my left foot, cocking my hip and propping my hand on it. "You _do _know that I'll need some sort of proof about this whole magic gig."

"And I shall need proof that you really are a Volaticus, Miss Ride," he said.

I glared at them, they had been calling us Volaticii ever since I started the conversation. And I wasn't sure what the heck it meant. "You first."

"That is fine. Sirius?" Dumbledore called.

The man with shaggy black hair and gray eyes strode purposefully in front of me and waved his wand at me, saying "_Wingardium Leviosa_."

And then I was in the air.

Without using my wings.

I was _floating_ there for a few seconds before he let me down. Smothering my urge to let my mouth drop open and resemble a gaping fish, I sighed and shrugged off my windbreaker and looked around the room.

Then I let out my wings in all their thirteen foot glory.

Sirius looked like his jaw was going to unhinge and Dumbledore just had that twinkle in his eye.

When all the hubbub was over with, I went down stairs and saw the flock eating and stuffing their faces in only the way us recombinants can.

Angel was giggling, probably at something random Tally had thought and said dark haired bird girl was looking at the tea untrustingly and sniffing it.

"It's _tea_, Tally," Iggy said with a mocking tone. "Not like it's going to splash out and bite you."

The little kids laughed some.

Oh, I didn't mention that? I must've forgotten to mention that while we were being kidnapped for the umpteenth time.

We have special abilities.

Angel can read minds, communicate with animals, control minds, breathe under water, and God only knows what else that child can do. I don't want to know. She may be my baby, (not really, but I treat her like my own) but sometimes that kid is just a tad bit _creepy._

Gasman can mimic any voice he hears (like a parrot), and his other ability…really stinks. Not stinks as in _bad_ stinks, stinks as in _smells_ stinks. If that makes sense.

Nudge is a brilliant hacker and tell who was in a place by the left over vibrations. And we recently found out she could attract metal to her as well.

Iggy has the best set of ears in the world. And I ain't bragging. He can feel colors too. And sorta read Tally's mind since they are _that_ close.

Tally can…she calls it molecular acceleration. The whitecoats had messed around with her power and discovered that she could make the molecules in things go so fast they explode or slow them down until they freeze in mid air. And she could make them appear in your head so that you had a "picture" of what she wanted to see in your head.

Example?

A few months ago, in November, well, Tally, being just the wonderful and _generous_ mutant that she was, decided to freeze Anne Walker while she was freaking out over the little thingy on the turkey and about everything going to ruins. Much to the relief of some and the horror of others.

(Gazzy just yelled out, "COOL!" for the record.)

I gave Talon a stern talking to (which she just smirked at) and told her to unfreeze Anne before she noticed anything. Tally had sighed before doing as she was told, then proceeded to pick Total off the ground and take him to the couch, petting him, much to his delight.

It became sort of obvious that Tally didn't want anything to do with Thanksgiving. Or Anne for that matter. I don't blame her, that woman forgot that Tally was mute every three seconds.

Back to the topic. Fang can blend in with almost any of his surroundings.

And I have a Voice and can go into a supersonic speed. And I got wicked leading skills. Not to toot my own horn or anything.

I sat between Angel and Fang, raising an eyebrow at the food in front of me before shrugging and digging in.

After being on the run and sometimes not even eating for days, you learn not to be picky with your food.

I dug in and told the Flock the deal that I had struck with that old Merlin-wannabe.

"So," Iggy said. "These people are going to wave their magical wands and protect us while Max does what she usually does and cause violence, mayhem, and tears?"

Tally elbowed him, her eyes closed as she took a careful sip of the tea.

"Thanks, Tally," I muttered. "Yeah. Basically. We _all_ have to work to make sure this Umbridge woman doesn't go psycho lady on the students, while we pose as these Volaticii ambassadors and take some classes."

"What the heck is a Volaticii?" Gazzy asked, speaking around a mouthful of crumbs.

"It means 'winged' apparently," I said, covering my laughs when Tally spat out the tea on top of Total.

Just a typical day in the lives of bird kids…and wizards I guess.


	2. Target Spotted!

2

Tally had her chin propped up in her hand while looking through a giant tome of _spells_.

_Really though, spells? Wave your polished stick of wood like that chick from Wizard of Oz? And the laptop doesn't work here!_ Tally thought, miffed.

Yeah, the fact that they're nifty laptop was out of commission put a damper on the whole "Magic actually exists" thing for Fang and Tally.

And if the Laptop didn't work, that meant that they couldn't update Fang's blog.

Which just irked the twins to no end.

Fang rifled through the pages of some giant book silently, sitting right beside Tally.

_Axelo,_ Tally read, _a curse that causes severe internal injury to the victim. Potentially lethal. Most effective when cast verbally. _

"Is it me, or are the majority of these books evil sounding?" Fang asked, disgust ringing in his tone. He sneezed three times as he closed the book, a dust cloud practically attacking him.

Tally nodded and slammed the book shut, half jumping when it let out a guttural "Hey!" and returned to the shelf where she had fetched it from.

She honestly wouldn't have been surprised if they had accumulated a layer of dust on their already olive skin. Their palms were already filthy from dusting off the big books and snooping as it was.

"HARRY!" Came a shout from a few floors below.

Fang and Tally looked at each other before getting up and going down the stairs to where the rest of the flock were gathering in front of Hermione and Ron, looking at a scrawny boy that was about Nudge's height with startling green eyes.

"What's wrong?" Fang asked. Since Max had bartered her way into the secret meetings (even if a bunch of the adults argued, Max managed to use her sarcastic wit to land her with the adults but not the rest of the Flock), Fang was left as leader.

The bushy haired girl looked a bit surprised but turned to the puny boy and insisted he introduce himself.

The boy seemed a bit ruffled, "Harry Potter, if the bloody scar doesn't give it away."

Fang regarded him with a cool look and nodded. "Fang, and this is my twin Tally."

Tally flashed a peace sign lazily, crossing her arms and starting to get incessantly tired of keeping her wings tight along her back. Not that they would all fit in the hallway with their wings out, they had figured that out a while ago.

"Iggy, or the Ig Master," said the blind Pyro, grinning in Harry's general direction. The dark haired bird girl rolled her eyes.

"Hi, Harry! I'm Nudge!" and thankfully she didn't start babbling anything _after_ that pithy quip.

"The Gasman, or Gazzy," the blonde boy said, smiling as innocently as his sister.

"Word to the wise, stay up wind," Iggy told him. Tally swatted his arm, trying to hold down her smile.

"Hi! I'm Angel, Max is in the meeting so you can't meet her till later. And no," she said, tilting her head to one side. "We're not your replacements. Max says we're 'the help.'"

And if that didn't surprise him, then Total peeking out of Nudge's windbreaker must've been a real shocker, especially when he introduced himself judging by the way he owlishly blinked at the Scottie dog before reverting to his bitterness.

"Well, er…nice to meet you and all, but I have to speak to my friends," he muttered.

_Now, isn't he a nice fella? _Tally's smirked. _Translation: Could you leave so that I can yell at these people who I call friends?_

Iggy snorted at Tally's thought, took her hand, and dragged her off down another flight of stairs.

_And what are you planning Mister?_

* * *

Fred and George Weasley were across from Tally and Max's room, watching as the dark haired girl put her things away in the trunk, getting ready for the train ride to Hogwarts tomorrow.

"She looks to be _our_ age," one of the red heads muttered. Max had conveniently left out the fact that all of their senses were enhanced to the magical folk.

"Not such a midget like the rest of the girls," the other whispered.

"Do ya think she'll go out with me?" the first one asked.

And that was when Tally twitched a bit, stuffing a big review book of spells into her trunk.

"If she doesn't you should try that Max girl."

Tally smirked, Max would sooner surrender herself to the School while wearing a pink tutu and frills before going out with someone who wasn't Fang. Hell, she still hadn't even gone on a date with him….Whatever.

_Hmm, stupid sexist pigs,_ she thought, pulling a bit at her sleeveless black top.

She slammed her trunk shut as soon as they started approaching her room, and she left. Simple as that.

But they followed.

"Hey! You're—"

"—Tally, right?" they asked.

She kept walking and ignored them. How was she going to answer anyways?

_If they expect me to start miming everything to them the way I do for the flock than they have another thing coming. I don't mix myself with chauvinistic people. _

_Okay, so maybe I do, if Fang and Iggy count, but not anyone but them…does that even make sense? Things don't really make sense now that we've been exposed to _magic_ and are being called—er, what was it again? Velociraptors? No, isn't that a dinosaur? I think Max would give anyone who called her a dinosaur a black eye. That wouldn't be very nice…but it wouldn't stop the rest of us form snickering._

A giggle made her stop rambling and she aimed her eyes at Angel, picking up the giggling girl and looking her straight in the eye. _And you just love laughing at my commentaries. I bet Iggy does the same, try listening in to him, why dontcha?_ Tally directed the thoughts to the giggling girl on her hip.

_They _are_ funny,_ Angel relayed.

Tally blinked, _De ja vu, didn't we have this conversation back in Florida?_

Angel grinned innocently before nodding.

_Right, _Tally continued on her way. _Angel, do me a favor and _don't_ read the twin's mind. It'll rot your brain. _

Angel look at her inquisitively, big blue eyes and slight pouty lip. _Why not?_

_Stick that lip back in, young lady,_ Tally thought, darting her eyes away from Angel. _They are just thinking inappropriate things. Max would have my head if I didn't warn you. _

* * *

Ugh, anyone get this big of a headache while waiting for a train? No? Just me? Alright then.

The flock and I left to King's Cross Station by ourselves, after learning a few of the basics from the "Aurors" (apparently people that fight evil in this strange wizard land) and after Molly Weasley cast this spell on all of our clothes to make sure that we didn't need to cut hole in them anymore. Now our wings sort of just shifted through the fabric. Up side? No draft. (Good thing, too. I heard England and all these countries had freaking harsh winters, if I was remembering my scanty education correctly. If not, I was confusing it with Russia.)

I herded the Flock along to the nearest empty compartment.

Really, this whole magic gig was starting to sink in. I had caught the stoic twins reading some spell books more than once and had to ban the _Incendio_ charm from Iggy and Gazzy. After they had gotten their own shiny twigs to wave about.

As soon as I closed the door to our compartment, I set myself to leader mode. And everyone turned to me.

"Okay guys," I began. "We have a mission. We have to make sure this Umbridge lady doesn't mess up what Dumbledore—"

"Professor Dumbledore," Total quipped.

Tally glared at him and made the universal "zip it!" gesture.

"_Professor _Dumbledore has set up at Hogwarts. We have to keep a look out for her mistreating any kids or…of the Ministry of Magic trying any funny business."

"But we don't know the Ministry," Iggy pointed out. "How the heck are we going to know if she's doing something wrong?"

I smirked, "Professor Dumbledore said that the students would be able to either tell us, or show us by the way they react."

Nods all around, but we all jumped a bit when the compartment door opened and revealed a blonde boy with his hair slicked back.

"You all must be the Volaticii my father spoke of," he drawled and thrust out his hand to Fang. "Draco Malfoy, and you must be Maximum Ride, the leader?"

Fang looked at him calmly before shaking his head. I could detect the slightest bit of amusement as he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes.

"Actually, _I'm_ Max," I corrected, taking the boy's hand, smirking at how surprised he looked. "Maximum Ride."

The boy took his hand back, obviously getting over his momentary lapse in composure, and nodded, "And the rest would be…?"

"My Flock," I said simply.

"Well," he puffed his chest up. "If want to be at the top at Hogwarts, I suggest you pick your company wisely. Slytherins are the best of the best at Hogwarts."

"Really, now?" I mocked his drawl. "We were told Slytherins are the worst of the worst and are all 'slimy gits how all turn into Death Eaters.'"

Malfoy sneered, stepping back and wiping his hand on his robes. "I see you're a lost cause. Pothead and his band of blood traitors and mudbloods must've gotten to you already."

"Whatever, get out of the compartment already," I snarled, knowing that he was insulting Harry and the rest of them.

"Prick," Fang muttered under his breath once the arrogant kid left.

"Language."

"It isn't a bad word. It's like saying dummy, Ron taught us," Nudge said, grinning.

I rolled my eyes. _Great, now the locals are teaching my flock how to evade my swear word censorship. Mental Note: go smack the heck out of Ron next time I see him. _

* * *

I think everyone in the flock got a kick out of all the gaping faces when we walked into the great hall in our black robes, with our wings out. But I mean, who wouldn't? Fang looked like he was going to pull a pointy object out of his combat boot half the time and slice your head off, Angel looked like an…angel half the time, Nudge could chatter your ears off and had beautiful fawn colored wings, then the Pyro trio…well, you just got the feeling to stay out of their way unless you wanted to be on the wrong side of one of their pranks or "revenge acts."

Iggy, Gazzy and Tally had already started whispering and miming things among each other, probably a bomb or a prank of some sort when we walked in.

"This year, Hogwarts will be playing host to the Volaticii ambassadors, the Flock," Dumbledore announced as we stared down the "Great Hall," after the first years were sorted, at all the gaping faces. "You shall treat them as you would a teacher. All of them will be attending classes, Ms. Maximum Ride, Mr. Fang, Ms. Talon Ghost, and Mr. Iggy shall be in the fifth year classes, Ms. Nudge shall be in the third year classes and Mr. Gazzy and Ms. Angel shall be in the first year classes, regardless of age."

He motioned to the small, empty middle table. "Now, without further ado, tuck in!"

And did he really need to say anything else? Iggy and Gazzy were already inhaling all the food they came in contact with, much to the disgust of the people around us.

Nudge bravely dared Tally to try the kidney pie, and I think Tally was _this close_ to developing laser vision with that glare as she poked said pie before tentatively putting it in her mouth and chewing.

We all leaned in to see if she would spontaneously combust…or spit it out like she did the unsweetened tea.

Surprisingly, she pulled the whole thing to her and started stuffing her face. Translation: This is actually freaking good!

When desert came up, well, violence sprouted between Gazzy and Nudge. Since they were both just abysses bound to be able to swallow the table whole. Not to mention that they wanted a certain part of the treacle tart. Which I didn't really get since they could just eat any other part.

And then all the food disappeared and like clockwork everyone turned to the head table. (I wish I could command my flock that way… But nooo, they just seem to be getting more rebellious every minute. Especially Angel.)

"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," said Dumbledore. "First years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students—a few of our older students ought to know by now too. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four hundred and sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in the corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door.

"We have now two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Hey, didn't Hermione say that Hagrid taught Care of Magical Creatures?

Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for the House Quidditch teams will take place on the —" He broke off, looking at Professor Umbridge like she just declared she was an extremely overweight Eraser. And since she wasn't all that much taller sitting than standing, nobody really got why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge said, "_Hem, hem."_

"That's our target," Gazzy muttered.

Ah jeez, I bet this whole mission translated into one thing for them. _Get some bombs and prank gizmos and mess with as many teachers as you can._

The lady, apparently the person we were supposed to keep an eye out for, gave some grand speech. Angel, Total and Nudge put their heads on the table, cushioning them with their folded arms and yawning.

I leaned back. "She reeks of 'government,'" I whispered to Fang out of the corner of my mouth.

His dark eyes darted to me, before giving the slightest of nods.

Honestly? I think Iggy and Tally planned Gazzy's little mishap as we were coming out of the Great Hall.

He let his "special ability" go in front of the Slytherins. Meaning? He let one of his toxic farts rip and made Professor McGonagall shout "_WHO SET OFF THE DUNGBOMB?"_

Iggy, Tally and Gazzy snickered and hurried up the Grand Staircase and practically ran away from the scene of the crime, each exchanging high fives.

"I never knew your twin could be such a prankster, Fang," I mused, grinning as Malfoy hopped about with tears in his eyes.

"Neither did I," Fang replied, flashing me one of those rare grins that could light up the whole room.

When we made it to the Gryffindor common, the Pyro Trio, as I called them, were being assaulted with questions.

Tally had this annoyed look on her face and her hands were twitching.

And I knew why as soon as the Weasley Twins stepped up and asked her, "Will you date me?" Really loud. And I mean really.

Both Tally and Iggy scowled.

And if I could still read her lips correctly she mouthed "(insert swear word of choice here) no," and Iggy grabbed her hand under the billowing sleeves of the robes.

I could still remember when they got together…We were at Anne Walker's house and they got a very friendly friendship.

And I thought it was sort of odd for a mute bird girl and a blind bird boy to get together, at least when they went on that shopping trip for Anne and then were ambushed while they were apparently kissing.

And she had roomed with him after I went on my date with Sam, wanting to give me some privacy. (That's all they did! Fall asleep in the same room! Nothing dirty you perverts out there!)

Or how they _tried _to keep everything away from me.

But I ended up finding out from my faithful younger bird kids.

I was just thankful I hadn't caught them kissing or anything…

I mean, that would just be weird. Iggy's like my brother…

And Tally might as well be my sister with being Fang's twin and all…

* * *

**A/N: All right. Time for me to say "REVIEW!" If you guys have any questions about Tally I can answer them. Like, if you picked up this story cold. Or about anything in this story. Of course, in the form of a review. (Jeez, I sound like a review whore.) Don't worry, lots of heck to come in the next chapter. ^-^ Anyways, my reasoning for the years that the flock were placed in is so that they get a hang for things. And the younger kids can pass off for being much older than they are, and Max surely wouldn't want them anywhere that is not somewhat near her in the strange new world they've been tossed into forcefully by Jeb and Dumbledore. **

**REVIEW!**


	3. Death by Max's Wit

3

The Flock had been given a small little room inside Gryffindor tower. Or so they had been told.

Tally had been in complete awe when she walked into the "Flock Common Room." (She had sent a round of dagger glances at the Weasley Twins when they had called it "The Nest")

It actually did look nice and cozy, and it was quiet. Something that Iggy loved. And something that would have made her lose any sanity she might've had left if it weren't for all the interesting things to entertain her in the room.

An interesting fact? The bottom level of the room was all couches and a big fireplace. No where to sleep.

But then if you directed your gaze _up_ you would see where all the beds were. A hole on the ceiling of the first level allowed you to see the multiple levels there were, with a little metal winding stair case leading you up-up-up.

The second level was for the younger kids, the third and fourth for the older kids. And they all big paned windows that let them see the great skies.

_This room is awesome, _Tally thought, flopping onto her four poster bed.

"You've thought that seventeen times in the last hour, Tal," Iggy groaned. "Whistle a new tune, why dontcha?"

_Cause I can't get over this ROOM! _She thought, just to irk him.

"Gah!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands over his ears. "Girlfriend or no, this is cruel and unusual punishment!" He then proceeded across the room to his bed, slapping a pillow over his head and turning into a big lump on the duvet.

Tally cocked an eyebrow, _You know, a pillow won't stop you from hearing my thoughts. And if you really want cruel and unusual punishment, I'll just think about that Oompa Loompa song that you hate sooo much from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. _

_Oompa Loompa doompadee doo  
I've got another puzzle for you  
Oompa Loompa doompadah dee  
If you are wise you'll listen to me _

What do you get from a glut of TV?  
A pain in the neck and an IQ of three  
Why don't you try simply reading a book?  
Or could you just not bear to look?

She didn't really catch it but in that moment he managed to spring board off his bed, across the room with his enhanced birdiness and somehow tackle her. How did the blind bird kid manage to tackle the mute bird girl without hurting himself? She would never know.

But she did know was that she was going to turn blue from all of his one-hundred-seven pounds on her ninety-seven pound body.

_AIR! I NEED AIR! _

* * *

I looked up, blinking as I heard two distinct thumps and Iggy's maniacal laughter.

Then I glanced at Fang who, unlike his sister, was downing his tea in two gulps.

"Don't wanna know," he muttered in response to my glance.

But really, whatever deity there is up there, really didn't like us.

Tally came tromping down the little winding stair case and practically launched her self onto Fang, pushing him a bit forward so that she could hide behind him.

And then Iggy came, a grin on his face as he headed straight towards her.

Her face screwed up like she just noticed that he was _blind_ and could find her no matter _where_ she hid. And I snickered.

She sent me a dark look, before ducking behind Fang again.

"C'mon, Tally, you know you deserved it," Iggy said. Angel, Gazzy and Nudge were giggling in a corner, Total tilting his head at us.

She shook her head so fast her features blurred, Fang looked slightly annoyed at being used as a shield.

Hmm…just a normal night for us bird kids.

* * *

"Iggy, wake up," I said, dodging when his fist came flying up to punch me out of habit.

"Bite me…" he mumbled sleepily and rolled over.

Tally, across on the other bed in the room pulled on her robes over her tank top and boxers. She rolled her eyes at him and ran a brush through her black hair, grabbing the thin streak of white that never seemed to bleed to black with olive, spindly fingers.

Ah jeez, where the hell did I get _spindly fingers_? Did the Whitecoats program poetic way of thoughts into my head as well? Next to sarcasm? And a freaking Voice who had suddenly taken a vacation to Tahiti?

Talon strode across the room, the black robes billowing around her and wings hanging out a bit. She plopped herself down on Iggy's stomach (causing an _Oomph!_ from him) and pulled out a little piece of _parchment_ (Paper and parchment…what the heck is the difference?) that had arrived that morning.

I'm guessing she was reading it for him in her mind since he poked her until she slid off of him, muttering; "All right all ready, I'll get up."

Tally blinked (in a sort of satisfied way) then strode back to her side of the room picking at the pleated skirt, her mouth forming curses and gray eyes narrowed into a glare.

"At least it isn't as short as the skirt from the school in West Virginia," I murmured, glancing at Iggy as he "combed his hair" (ran his fingers through the blonde haystack) and picked up the clothes Tally had set out for him.

Talon cocked an eyebrow incredulously at me.

Translation: It's a _skirt._ It is _still_ the bane of my existence.

Or something like that.

I shrugged and lifted one side of my skirt, showing her the shorts I had under, flashing a grin at her.

The other eyebrow went up and she nodded, slipping off her boots and fishing around her trunk for the only pair of shorts she owned, and the ones that she had taken to wearing during the hot months.

"Max! C'mon! Hermione says that breakfast already started!" Gazzy called up the stairs. I could just imagine him dancing around and causing Fang a headache…he probably thought Gazzy was a little twerp from the amount of prank the nine-year-old pulled on him.

I spared a glance at Tally and she motioned to the letter.

Frowning, I reached out to read it, wondering what the heck else was thrown our—erm, Talon and Iggy's way.

_Miss Talon Ghost and Mister Iggy,_

_I am aware of the fact that you will not have the easiest time casting spells with your disabilities. Please come to my office, I would like to discuss this with you both._

_-A. Dumbledore_

_Ps, Do you like Lemon Drops?_

"So…he might have a way of solving _both_ your problems?" I asked aloud.

"Yeah!" Iggy said, hopping out of the bathroom while trying to put on his shoe at the same time. "Apparently he's going to say abra cadabra, wave his stick, and we'll be able to see and talk."

Talon laced her boots back up before making a shooing motion to me.

* * *

Well, the trip to Professor Dumbledore's wasn't the easiest.

The school was throwing off their internal compass with all the magic, so Iggy had to ask the portraits which way to go, only to end up in the wrong place with a cat hissing at them. (It probably looked at their wings and thought _Dinner, nom nom_) Thankfully, Nearly Headless Nick found them and showed them the way. Before the cat decided to attempt to take a bite out of them.

By that time though, both Talon and Iggy were completely cranky and their stomachs were likely digesting themselves from the lack of nourishment.

However, that didn't save them from the other problem. The gargoyles blocked the way up.

"Can't we just smash 'em?" Iggy asked, digging through the pockets of his robes. "I'm sure I got a Shy Guy somewhere on me…"

Tally rolled her eyes…(Whythe heck did he name a bomb after a Mario character?) _Maybe we can just climb up them, y'know, like monkeys. I don't think destroying his gargoyle monster thing will really get us on his good side. Probably the opposite, he'll hate us for life, kick us out, and then we won't have protection and we'll be on the run again…_

"That's no fun," he completely waved off her little Nudge-like rant. "I still say we blow them up. These people can just wave their sticks," —he snickered here— "And fix it all, can't they?"

Talon was about to roll her eyes when the Gargoyles suddenly jumped apart, a staircase appearing.

Iggy had automatically put his hands up and bent his knees in a fighting stance when he heard the sudden noise, half in front of the dark haired girl.

"Ah, no need to fight me. I assure you, my intentions are honest," Dumbledore said.

Talon gritted her teeth, shooting her instincts in the foot. Her twin was the sneakiest person in the flock with his power, so why the heck was she so jumpy?

"Right…" Iggy drawled. "Just make sure you don't sneak up on kids that can go all Tai Kwon Do on your ass, old man."

Tally smothered a chuckle.

_Kung Fu, bombs, explosions, violence, tears and mayhem…yeah, he should back off,_ she thought, amused.

Iggy flashed her a brilliant grin.

But this little exchange didn't go unnoticed by Dumbledore. He nodded, "The password was 'Lemon Drops.' Now, if you will please step into my office?"

The bird kids looked at each other, before following him up the stairs.

They sat down in front of him, practically tackling the plates of toast, milk and breakfast goods in front of them.

_Oh, my God, the food fairies really _do_ exist! And Max said that you were just trying to trick me again!_ Tally thought excitedly.

Iggy gave no answer, he was busy with all the food he was inhaling.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled grandfatherly, "Well, I am aware that you are blind and mute, respectively; which will cause some problems with reciting incantations and performing wand movements."

"Yeah," Iggy said, muffled from the wad of bacon he had stuffed in his mouth. "_Big_ problems. Catastrophic, even; we won't be able to wave sticks or say abra cadabra...oh, clear cup, weird 'color'…."

_Weird, yes, clear colored cups are completely weird,_ Tally agreed faithfully, chugging some good old fashioned coffee down.

"Well," and it seemed Dumbledore was amused with the way they were acting as well. "I believe Miss Ghost has your vision problems under control, Mister Iggy."

Tally choked on a piece of toast, and Iggy thumped her on the back while she regained her composure, wiping her mouth with her hand and looking at the old man suspiciously.

_How the hell did he know about my powers? I thought Max "forgot" to tell him?_

"Did Jeb tell you?" he asked, acid practically dripping off his words.

"Yes," Dumbledore said, not the least bit affronted by the two of them. "But Miss Talon's problem will be a tad bit harder to fix. Nonverbal spells are possible, but it is normally magic more suited to sixth years."

Silence.

He took it as a motion to go on.

"However, since she is just beginning her magic courses, I believe that it will be more difficult for her to get a hold on nonverbal magic."

Tally's eyes flared. _Is he calling me weak? I'll kick his scrawny, old crippled butt any day of the week! Bring it!_

"That wouldn't look good for your reputation, Tally," Iggy murmured out of the corner of his mouth, half smirking.

_Whatever._

"However, seeing as you are far more advanced than any human, I can assume you will be far more advanced when it comes to magic. Miss Ride _did_ mention that you can run many times faster than humans, and that you all are all very savvy when it comes to—ah, what did she call it? Street smarts?"

Tally smirked.

"Yeah, Max _would be_ one to brag about being able to hot wire a car and make a van go up on two wheels."

* * *

Iggy and Tally appeared a bit after breakfast, arriving at the History of Magic classroom, smirks on their faces as if…

"Just _what_ did you two _do_?" I hissed as they sat down in the table behind me and Fang.

Iggy put a hand to his throat, faking a crestfallen look. "Oh, Max, you wound me with those false accusations."

Fang's twin shook her head in what was dismay, giving me the whole "Shame on you" movement before taking a book out of her bag.

She paged through it, almost religiously, looking at Iggy every once in a while and he would bob his head then continue whispering with Fang.

I leaned over her desk, "Whatcha reading?"

She looked up at me, cocking an eyebrow before closing the cover and turning it around for me.

"_The Best Of Tips For Mute, Blind and Deaf Witches and Wizards by Rozen Rosemary_" was scrawled across the top.

I nodded and paged through the book, skimming through a few of the passages on nonverbal magic (what the hoot was that?) and other completely weird things…

Shrugging, I handed the book back to Talon.

"Boring, innit?" Ron whispered.

I nodded, yawning.

* * *

Next on the list of Torture? Potions.

We stood in the line waiting outside of his classroom (were these _really _Dungeons? Like, Marian-Jansen-Director-wanna-kill-half-the-world-and-throw-me-and-Nudge-and-Angel-and-Ari-and-Total-into-a-Dungeon kind of deal?), Fang already tense in that way that meant he was about to start crawling the walls from the horribly enclosed space and the funky smells out raptor senses were picking up. One smelled decidedly antiseptic-y.

The doors creaked open and then that greasy dude we saw in the Great Hall last night stepped out saying, "Settle down," in a voice that could've frozen a flame.

A muscle in Fang's jaw twitched as he glared at the man. He clearly did not feel like professing his love to the Potions guy, probably the opposite.

Tally, I saw, grabbed Iggy's hand discreetly and made it look like she was walking by him instead of directing him.

Potions, was hell.

Especially when Snape glanced at us older Flock members down his beaky nose (are we sure _he_ isn't two percent bird as well? He sure as heck looks like it) and began droning on about OWLs and about a Draught of Peace.

Something that I was _so_ going to end up snagging when we were done.

Tally and Iggy, not surprisingly, did that weird thing where they just passed each other things without talking, and were completely in tune. Making two separate batches of the same thing like _they_ were twins.

Fang did great…yeah, silent and reading the labels on the ingredients and being completely aloof.

And…er…there is a reason that the flock scream bloody murder and treat my cooking like poison.

Not that this was actual cooking.

But when Snape came around after saying that the potion should be letting out a light silver vapor…

"What is this, Ride?" he leered.

I bit my cheek to make sure I didn't retort anything.

I could see the majority of the class turn to us, see what the mean nasty teacher did to the "ambassador."

"Draught of Peace," I replied curtly.

He sneered, "Ride, what did you do with this potion? It should not be turning black and emitting red fumes."

"No one said coming here meant I had to cook," I muttered under my breath, resisting the urge to glare at Iggy as he snickered, pretending he was choking.

"What was that Ride?"

"Nothing…" I murmured at him, narrowing my eyes into a glare.

I think he got very miffed with me. "You will refer to me as sir or Professor."

That's it! "Nah, I'm supposed to be treated like any teacher here right? So that means we can become good old chaps, now won't we?"

Fang twitched.

* * *

You know something? Snape looks like he's constipated when he's pissed off. But he did the same thing to my "potion" that he did to Harry's. He waved his wand over it and said, "_Evanesco._"

He wheeled about and addressed the rest of the class while I started incorporating him in my "You will be humiliated so much, you're _grandchildren_ will wear paper bags over their heads with holes for eyes cut out" plan.

Divination had been a laugh fest.

Especially when we were paired up to describe our dreams.

"Well, I dreamt that I was _blind!_ Can you believe it?" Iggy told Tally, shaking her shoulder for emphasis while she nodded and pretending to adjust her invisible glasses and wrote notes furiously, mouthing _Go on_ for the benefit of the rest of us enjoying the show.

"Well, then I woke up and I couldn't see! And guess what? I still can't see!" he exclaimed, pointing at his eyes. "Except for Max, she's so manly I can see her with_out_ my sight."

I rolled my eyes and smacked Iggy over the head with the gihugic book we had for Divination.

"Hey! No picking on the blind bird kid!" he said, ducking his head as I wacked him again.

"Blind, my foot," I said.

Tally and Fang were looking back and forth between us, amusement in their dark eyes.

* * *

Defense?

Yeah, it sucked.

Let's be vulgar for a moment and say it like the kiddies back in the US would say: it sucked major balls.

* * *

**Edited September 27****th**** 2009**


	4. Kindergarten and the Toad Teacher

4

"Finally! Something that doesn't seem completely _pointless!_" Iggy exclaimed bitterly, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, something I might actually be _good_ at," Max muttered. She was tugging at her tie and collar, probably feeling like she was on a leash.

"_Defense Against the Dark Arts,_" Fang said softly. "Sounds like fun."

Tally rolled her eyes and pushed down the urge to snort.

_You have got to remember that this Umbridge woman is the one we're supposed to keep an eye out for,_ she thought, as Iggy reached for her hand.

He "looked" at her significantly when something occurred to him. It took her a moment, but she remembered what he was referring to.

The dark haired girl steeled herself (from laughing hysterically) and answered him, _They can find out all on their own. Max is going to certainly have a cow, maybe some puppies too. _

His mouth curled into a smirk as they sat clumped up again, Fang and Max in front while Harry and Ron were in front of them.

_Hmm…Defense Against the Dark Arts? This is the class where we get to show off right? Do some flying summersaults, flips, show these sissies that we can punch properly and that we can kick their butts any day of the week…_

"Heh," Iggy bobbed his head as a small smile crawled across her face.

Tally's gray eyes glided back across the classroom, doing a three-sixty scan compulsively.

And her eyes landed on the pink woman sitting at the front of the classroom.

_If Angel suddenly decides to wear a shade of pink that obnoxious…I swear…_ Tally thought, her nose wrinkling up.

Iggy made a confused sound in the back of his throat and she rolled her eyes, brushing her hand against his and giving him a vivid, raptor vision version of the eyesore that was their Defense Professor.

"_This_ is our _Defense_ professor?" he muttered as Professor Umbridge flicked her wand at the chalk board behind her, filling his cheeks with air and blowing it out. "I think a normal person could take her down. Just aim for the triple blubber chins."

Tally choked down a laugh as the "Professor," or rather Ministry appointed person, began to address them. Eyes pointedly gluing to the winged people in her class plus the one and only Harry Potter. Though that little spark of anger that passed through her eyes did not go unnoticed by Max, Fang and Talon…

"Well, good afternoon!" she said with enough fake enthusiasm to disgust a bunch of the people in the class.

A couple people mumbled in reply while the rest were obviously drained from the previous classes and didn't want to deal with the ugly pink growth.

"Tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge. "_That_ won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

What were they two? And how many times was the woman going to stuff the word "please" down their throats?

Tally's nose wrinkled again, she sounded like one of those sickly sweet whitecoats that always _always_ in the end would stab you in the back and empty some sort of syringe in your bloodstream, preaching it to be 'for your own good' while she and the rest of the experiments writhed in pain.

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," the rest of the class chanted back at her.

Tally huffed and propped her chin up with her right hand, leaving her left out for any writing they might need to do.

"There, now," said Professor Umbridge sweetly (_Ugh, gag me please. This woman is sickening._). "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."

_Yes, that was excruciatingly hard,_ Tally thought. _Now stop treating us like we're _five_ instead of _fifteen_, idiot._

Iggy covered his guffaw with a cough.

"Well, now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" So she decided that they weren't five year olds? Excellent observational skills on her part. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not even seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L year.

"You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following please."

She tapped the chalk board with her wand and Tally read it to Iggy in her mind while multi-tasking and writing it down.

_Course aims:_

_1. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic._

_2. Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used._

_3. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use._

Tally's brows furrowed when she placed the last period. Not only did it sound like a bunch of fancy schmancy gobble of words that she didn't understand, but it sounded completely weird.

Like the words "defensive" and "legally" and "used" all in the same sentence equated to pure smelly garbage.

"Bologna," Tally heard Max whisper to Fang with her raptor hearing.

When everyone was down copying down the course aims, Umbridge said, "Has everybody got a copy of _Defensive Magical Theory _by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

A noncommittal murmur of confirmation from the class.

"I think we'll try that again," said the target. "When I ask you a question, I should like you to rely 'Yes, Professor Umbridge,' or 'No, Professor Umbridge.' So, has everyone got a copy of _Defensive Magical Theory _by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

"Yes, Professor Umbridge," rang through the room like some parody of a funeral chorus.

Tally rolled her eyes.

"Good," said the pink growth. "I should like you to turn to page five and read chapter one, 'Basics for Beginners.' There will be no need to talk."

* * *

I gritted my teeth, completely annoyed with this woman.

Was this lady for real?

I chanced a glance at Tally and Iggy, how one was immensely annoyed with what she was reading and the other was ready to fall asleep from the completely _boring_ stuff that was being "read to him."

After a while of frowning at the text, I looked up to see Hermione with her hand in the air. Silently trying to get the Umbridge woman's attention.

And, really, I wasn't the only one. A majority of the class had turn to look at her, and when the lady who called herself professor turned to her and acknowledged her after a half hour, the whole class turned to look.

"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked Hermione, pretending she just noticed her.

"Not about the chapter, no," she said slowly.

"Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge. I swear, this woman could be a toad hybrid or maybe something equally small and annoying. (Hey maybe she was Total's third cousin or something!) "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a query about your course aims," said Hermione.

The lady raised her eyebrows, almost as if she couldn't believe that a lowly student was questioning her.

"And your name is—?"

"Hermione Granger," she said.

"Well, Miss Granger, I think my course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," she said, all saccharine and trying to make me throw up.

"Well, I don't," Hermione said bluntly. "There's nothing written up there about _using_ defensive spells."

_Bingo! Yes Hermione! Why the heck are we in a Defense Class if we can't practice? That's so stupid!_

"Dumbledore must've meant this…" Fang murmured out of the corner of him mouth, too low for anyone else but us bird kids to hear.

"_Using_ defensive spells?" Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to _use_ a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron asked loudly.

I was about to open my mouth when Fang shot me a look, his 'Wait, and watch' look.

I nodded, I suppose we could sit back, everyone else was doing our jobs. Assess the situation.

For now.

"Students will raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr.—?"

"Weasley," Ron said, thrusting his hand into the air.

Umbridge was still smiling like the Cheshire cat turned her back on him, and then Harry and Hermione raised their hands too.

She examined Harry for a moment before addressing Hermione, "Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?"

"Yes, surely the whole point of Defense Against the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells?"

"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" asked Umbridge.

"No, but—"

"Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised out new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way—" (That whole sentence right there caused a bunch of eye rolling and snickering and completely looks of disbelief from us.)

"What use is that?" Harry asked, bordering on shouting. "If we're going to be attacked it won't be in a—"

"_Hand,_ Mr. Potter!" Umbridge said in a sing-songy voice.

She turned to a dark skinned boy in Gryffindor. "And your name is?"

"Dean Thomas."

"Well, Mr. Thomas?"

"Well, it's like Harry said, isn't it?" said Dean. "If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk-free—"

I opened my mouth to agree but Fang's warning glance and hand on my arm stopped me.

"I repeat," she said, still smiling that stupid little grin that I so dearly wanted to smash off her face. "do you expect to be attacked in during my classes?"

_Yes,_ I thought. _Probably just you. You have a mutiny on your hands, lady. _

"No, but—"

Umbridge spoke over him.

"I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school," ugh, the smile widened even more. How was that _possible?_ "but you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed—not to mention," here, her eyes landed on us bird kids, giving a nasty little laugh. "extremely dangerous half-breeds."

Fang's hand tightened on mine, but from looking at him I knew he wasn't restraining me anymore. If I squinted my eyes, I could just about see the angering simmering beneath his skin.

"No, you can't freeze her," Iggy muttered under his breath to Tally, a harsh clipped tenor to it. "Or blow her up for calling us half-breeds. We can prank her later."

I smirked at that. You could always count on the Pyro Trio to wreak havoc.

"If you mean Professor Lupin," Dean yelled angrily, "he was the best we ever—"

"_Hand_, Mr. Thomas! As I was saying—you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to your age group, and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day—"

"No, we haven't," Hermione said. "we just—"

"_Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!_"

"Complete and total bullshit," Iggy murmured. "Harry told us so."

Umbridge turned to another girl in Gryffindor.

"Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the countercurses and things?"

"As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," she said dismissively.

"Without ever practicing them before?" Parvati said, obviously completely outraged like the majority of the class.

"Big mutiny," I whispered to Fang who was still tensed up.

"I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough—"

"And what good's theory going to be in the real world?" Harry ground out, his fist in the air.

"I agree," I called out mockingly, hand lazily in the air.

Umbridge looked at us both.

"This is school, Mr. Potter, Miss Ride, not the real world," she said softly; the infamous calm before the storm.

"So these kids are going out there into a _war_ without being prepared?" I asked, leaning forward in my seat almost at the same time as Harry said, "So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting out there?"

Umbridge gave a twitch, "There is nothing out there, Miss Ride, Mr. Potter."

Behind me and to my side, Tally and Fang gave soft 'huh,' probably rolling their eyes.

"Oh, yeah?" said Harry. His temper, something that we both had in common, seemed to be showing.

"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?"

All right, I'll tell you straight up, all of us mutants gave sarcastic laughs at this, Umbridge's beady little eyes flickering to us for a second before turning back on Harry.

"Hmm, let's think…" Harry said in a mock thoughtful voice, tapping his chin and everything. "Maybe _Lord Voldemort_?"

And that one little title caused the whole room to gasp and twitch and react violently just like any of us Flock members would if you flashed a needle in our faces.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter."

"Now let me make this quite plain." I rolled my eyes as Umbridge stood up. "You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead—"

"He wasn't dead," Harry said, pissed and turning this weird shade of puce. "But yeah, he's returned!"

"Mr. Potter you have already lost your house ten points do not make matters worse for yourself," she told him all in one breath. "AS I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. _This is a lie._"

"It is NOT a lie!" Harry bellowed. "I saw him, I fought him!"

"Detention, Mr. Potter!" Umbridge said triumphantly. "Tomorrow evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat, _this is a lie. _The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, be all means come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend."—Iggy snorted here—"And now, you will kindly continue reading. Page five, 'Basics for Beginners.'"

Umbridge sat down, but Harry stood up. And I was about to follow in his foot steps if it weren't for Fang being ever the calm(-ish) one.

"So according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Harry asked, any hope for redeeming his composure completely shot to hell.

Everyone went silently, at least until Umbridge answered him.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," she said coldly.

Let's get this straight. I, under no circumstances, will obey authority. And I don't have good views on governments either since they obviously aren't smart enough to see what a company is doing and find out that illegal human recombinant life forms are being created from kids. None of the flock likes authority either, the only people they've ever listened to is my mom, Jeb, Fang and I.

And you all probably know my views on death and life and about how cruel it could be. Not to mention the fact that not everything was strictly black and white.

I stood up, "Umb—_Professor_ Umbridge, there is no such thing as death being a 'tragic accident.'" I snarled, and once again, Harry said, "It was murder. Voldemort killed him and you know it," just as I spoke.

Her eyes flickered to me, seemingly ignoring Harry. "And you would know this _how,_ Miss Ride? You are just a child yourself—"

"We're not _children!_" I shrieked; my shallow pool of patience apparently gone if the feathers standing on edge on my wings were any indication. "We've fought more things and seen things you couldn't even _imagine!"_

"Max! No!" Fang hissed, trying to pull me back to my seat.

Clearly, he was the only calm one. Despite their best efforts, Tally and Iggy were climbing out of there seats as well, one rummaging in his pockets and the other looking at Umbridge dangerously, her hands twitching.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Ride and your two friends, come here, please, dears."

My eyes flashed dangerously and I snatched my arm out of Fang's grip.

Tally, Iggy, Harry and I walked up to her, seeing her pull out a roll of pink parchment. She wrote something on the parchment than tapped it with her wand and it sealed itself.

"Take this to your Head of House."

We all took our respective envelopes and marched out of the room, almost stomping.

* * *

Tally silently fumed as she stabbed her cake, completely incensed. Not even the prank she and Iggy had planted had been able to bring her back around (Let's just say that the dungeons would have a horrible stench for the next few weeks, thanks to Ron mentioning where Draco Malfoy and his other House Mates slept).

Max glared at them for the prank, but it didn't have its usual fierceness, she almost seemed a bit _amused_ by it.

_Stupid toad, giving us detention. What happened to "treat us like teachers"? Did it go out the window? And did you see how she kept repeating please and that junk as if we actually _cared_ about her manners. And her voice, did she get high off of sugar or something? That would be fitting, stupid person with sickly sweet voice that makes her sound like a whitecoat on an annoying sugar high taunting us and making fun of us and calling us half breeds when it clearly wasn't our fault we were _created_ this way._

Iggy seethed silently, ice blue eyes glaring angrily at his plate. He nodded.

"What'd the toad do after we left?" Max asked tensely. The younger kids looked on in confusion, all except for Angel, the ever innocent-seeming-but-actually-quite-diabolical-when-you-got-down-to-it-mindreader.

Fang shrugged. "Sent us to read. Kept an eye on us. Ignored some people." He picked up a fried chicken drumstick.

Max rolled her eyes, "Stupid, prejudiced priss."

"What'd you guys do?" Nudge asked, gnawing on some sort of foreign food.

"Talked back," Fang answered when none of the perpetrators spoke up and simply stabbed at their food and sent dagger glances at the head table. "And nearly attacked Umbridge."

_Yeah, nearly attacked Umbridge. I still want to freeze her and watch her be terrified, _Tally thought darkly, her face completely void of any of the emotion she was feeling besides the way her lips were pulled into a severe line. _While you put a bomb down her ugly pink cardigan, Iggy._

He nodded, a small mischievous smirk painting his lips.

And then they only needed to see what kind of torture Umbridge would put them through for 'detention.' A eight days worth from what McGonagall had told them.

* * *

**Edited September 27****th**** 2009**


	5. Ouchie! My Hand You Idiot Feather!

5

What annoyed me about eating in the Great Hall?

The buzzing little voices muttering things about Harry and the Volaticii leader.

The latter obviously meant me, which peeved me off.

We all had our wings tucked in neatly along our spines, using our instincts as a crutch and trying to not attract even _more_ attention.

"This school's chattier than Nudge with an energy drink," I muttered after Fang finished telling the rest of the younger kids what Iggy, Tally and I had done.

He smirked, propping his chin up, his knee bumping mine.

"Dammit," Iggy cursed after missing the little piece of apple pie left on his plate. "Can't they freaking lower their voices or something? It's like they think because we're part bird we're all _DEAF_!" he said the last part loudly, glaring straight ahead, his knuckles bloodless while holding his knife and fork.

Tally pried the knife and fork out of his hands after throwing down her own utensils angrily, and then she gave me a significant look.

Giving a grim sigh, I stood up from the table. "C'mon guys, let's go stretch our wings. This place is getting a bit claustrophobic."

Not that the little nosy kids around us didn't hear me say that. The whispering escalated as all of us walked out of the Great Hall, a good bit us more than just a little irked.

Angel, Gazzy and Nudge challenged each other to a race and took off, Total exclaiming how it wasn't fair and followed behind them on short legs, every once in a while making one of his giant twenty foot bounds in an effort to catch up.

Iggy and Tally jogged after them, probably blowing off some steam and shaking off their grumpy attitudes or something.

Suddenly an arm wound around my waist as I walked, and I looked up at Fang's dark eyes. The nerves and touch receptors there were on fire and felt super acute, like they did whenever he touched me.

Gah! Stupid mushy gushy stuff, that's more of Tally and Iggy's deal! Not ours!

"Calm down," he said quietly. "You look ready to go fight an army of Flyboys."

I rolled my eyes and gave him a forced grin, "Possibly. Or deck one of the students. It could go either way at this point."

He cocked an eyebrow, "Yeah, right. Whatever you say, Max."

"Max! Fang! Hurry up! You guys are taking _forever!_" the Gasman called out from the other side of the big doors, where the rest of the flock was waiting impatiently.

"We'll get there when we get there, Gazzy!" I called out, but I jogged the rest of the way anyways. "C'mon Fang! Don't be a slowpoke!"

He looked at me evenly and kept on walking at his leisurely pace, his lips quirking to one side.

Once more, I rolled my eyes at him.

"You guys are so slow," Iggy muttered, shaking out his wings and taking a standing jump to get up to where Tally was circling, by sound only.

"Hey, hey Iggy! Want to play flying tag? Angel and Gazzy already said yes! And you, too, Tally!" Nudge called out, her fawn colored wings flapping as she jabbered on, the young blond siblings on either side of her.

Iggy shrugged, "Sure whatever."

"Not it!" Angel called.

"Not it!" Gazzy said.

"Not it!" Nudge.

"Not it!" said Iggy mischievously.

You have three guesses at who was left frowning, with her arms crossed.

"Tally, you're it!" Angel said, giggling and flying away from the dark haired girl as she dove through the air.

I grinned at their antics and took a running start, unfurling my wings and taking a leap into the sky.

Fang followed me, of course.

And we wheeled around in the _aire_ (That's "air," for all you non-Spanish-speaking folks), watching Tally whap Iggy upside the head with her wing before darting away from his hands.

"We have an audience," Fang said, a chunk of black hair falling in front of his eyes and shadowing them as he looked down.

I followed his gaze and scowled as students pointed up at us.

See, after years of being used to not showing our wings and relying on the basis that exposing them meant capture or death for us. So it felt funny (weird funny, not _funny_ funny) being able to wheel around and be playful in front of a whole school.

I compulsively gave a three sixty scan and glanced at the waning sun. "It's almost five. We should head over to _Umbridge's_—" I spat her name out. "—Detention. Do me a favor and make sure Gazzy takes a bath and Angel doesn't control anyone while I'm gone?"

Fang nodded and I called Iggy and Tally to come down with me.

Iggy tensed, murmuring something to Tally. A smirk stuck to her features and they both dive bombed to the ground, Gazzy following behind them.

Nosy students scrambled out of the way as the little trio of pyromaniacs landed, flashing their wings and pulling out of the nosedive at the last second, landing on their feet with triumphant smiles.

The Pyro Trio strikes again.

I backpedaled my feet as I landed behind them, "Stop scaring the locals, its rude guys."

"You're no fun, Max," Nudge said, landing beside Gazzy with a big grin on her face, Total in her hands.

Right, _I'm_ no fun.

I looked up as the first big drops of rain starting falling on me, the smell of wet grass permeating the air and causing it to become noticeably heavier, "Flock, inside before we _all_ catch colds."

Iggy snorted, "As if."

Tally smacked his arm, pulling the hood up on her robes anyways.

Then we marched off to Umbridge's, stupid pink whitecoat-wannabe had given us an extra day of detention.

* * *

Tally stood in front of Umbridge impassively, reminded vaguely of a memory a million years ago when she would have to stand straight faces and in ramrod posture as foreigners prodded her and quizzed the whitecoats for information on her. Potential buyers apparently.

And that tradition she had wasn't going to break, especially not in a froufrou room with kittens (she suddenly felt very disgusted with them) looking at them from plates, lace everywhere, doilies, bows…enough things to make her want to gag and torch the place.

This woman probably didn't have to fight a day in her life, chances were she had a quaint little desk job that she kissed major butt to get to.

It was the same with every government and corporate and, not surprisingly, Itex building that Tally had set foot in—whether voluntarily or not.

"Good evening, Miss Ride, Miss Ghost, and Mr. Iggy," she said in that stupid overly sugar coated voice that made a twinge of hurt erupt in Tally's ears.

"Evening," Max and Iggy responded, probably ready to jump the woman's throat.

Umbridge eyed Tally, waiting.

_Oh, great, is every teacher I meet going to expect me to talk? _Tally silently fumed.

But nonetheless, she raised a hand to her throat, pointing at it lazily and shaking her head, mouthing _Can't talk_ slowly incase the idiot didn't get it.

Umbridge's beady eyes narrowed into a glare, well; obviously she didn't get the message even with Talon treating her like a four year old.

"Talon can't talk, Professor," Max said, coming to the rescue.

"Oh, well that's such a shame," and Tally was damn sure that Umbridge didn't give a flying snot about it. "Well then, please sit down."

Iggy frowned as he felt the tale cloth, sliding into a straight backed chair in between both girls. Then his hand slid to the parchment and his frown deepened.

"Now, you three will be doing some lines for me, here are your quills," she handed them each a long, thin black quill with a sharp point.

_Did she rip out some of Fang's feathers? These are a bit too dark for them to be one of my feathers…_was her first thought. Iggy bobbed his head at her.

"Now, Miss Ride, you will be writing '_I must not tell lies,'_" She told Max softly, then turned to the couple. "And you both shall be writing, _'I must not disrupt class.'_"

_Just copy what I write okay? Try and imitate it,_ she thought, placing her right hand so that it touched his left casually, but before she even got a chance to write Umbridge spoke up again.

"Oh, I almost forgot that Mr. Iggy is blind,"—she flicked her stubby wand at Iggy's quill and then Tally's—"That should do it. Now it will copy whatever yours does, Miss Ghost."

Tally blinked. _Did she just freaking read my mind? _She thought, feeling cold anger rush into her veins.

Either way, she nodded at Umbridge and set her quill down on the parchment, glancing at Iggy's with the corner of her eye as if did the same.

She wrote, _'I must not disrupt class'_ in her messy cursive, feeling a little prickle on her hand.

It wasn't until she had copied it the third time that she got miffed (not that anyone in the room would be able to tell with her face as stony as it was) and finally took a moment to look at her right hand.

And she saw that line that she had been copying on paper for both Iggy and herself, appear on her right and his left hand, then healing away, leaving angry red marks on their relatively smooth skin.

"Is there a problem Miss Ghost?"

Tally's eyes flashed up to meet the pink growths,' her teeth gritted and her jaw twitched. She shook her head slowly, _Other than the reason that doing this to anyone is legal by any standards and that you remind me oddly of a pink potato dressed in Barbie clothing, no. Not really. Bitch._

Iggy made a strained sound (she suspected he was chuckling) then covered it with a series of coughing.

After ages and ages of the Professor-induced-yet-student-inflicted-self-mutilation, Umbridge told them to come to where she was sorting through a stack of official looking papers.

"Hands," she said.

Max thrust it in her direction, Iggy had this complete look of eternal pissyness as he, too, thrust it in the air towards her, but Tally kept her aloof façade up and extended it slowly.

Umbridge rubbed her fat fingers over the place where the skin looked red. Tally noted the ugly rings on her fingers, wondering vaguely how the toad would feel if she stole some for the sake of bomb making.

Probably get her old lady panties in a knot or something, she guessed as they were dismissed (the toad crooned about their appointment with her tomorrow and Max very nearly had to be restrained by Iggy as she made to do something violent, like rip out Umbridge's spine and beat her with it).

* * *

We stormed into the Gryffindor common room, completely ignored everyone and then marched to the portrait were our personal 'Nest' was located at.

And it wasn't until we were in there that I flopped onto the nearest couch, stuffed my face into a cushion and screamed my lungs out then took a deep breath and resurfaced.

"Max! Iggy! Tally! How did it go?" Nudge asked, abandoning her homework to bounce over to us but she stopped cold when she saw us all grimacing and showing varying degrees of anger in our eyes.

Tally grabbed her book, the one about Wizards who were disabled and whatever, the title was too long for me to remember, and slammed it down forcefully on the table, mouthing soundless cuss words under her breath as she read.

"Wonderfully, Nudge," Iggy said sarcastically, making his way to the stairs. "She was so nice! We were lucky that all she did was make us carve bullshi—"

"Language," I warned.

Iggy turned to me with pinpoint accuracy and gave me a scathing look. "—_BS _into our hands," he finished.

Fang jerked up from his seat by the fire stiffly and strode over to me, flipping my hands over. It was so obvious on our skin, especially with our enhanced sight.

"'_I must not tell lies?'_" he questioned, the identical twitch in his jaw and the dark shadow that crossed his eyes giving away his anger to me.

"Yeah, yeah, and Tally and I got '_I must not disrupt class,'_" He put air quotes around the phrase.

Fang grabbed his hand a inspected it too, inspecting it.

"Isn't that against the law or something?" Gazzy asked as all the younger kids crowded around us.

"I don't know, if it is, than it means that Umbridge woman is a hypocrite," I said sourly.

The slamming shut of a book across the room caused our gazes to snap.

Talon picked up her book and stalked over to the stairway, fingers twitching in the way that meant she was _dying_ to use her powers.

...And that she was about to lose her temper if someone didn't do something.

"Iggy," Fang said, dropping his hand and Nudging the younger fifteen year old. "Go. Before she blows everything up."

* * *

Later in the night, after I had made sure that everyone had done their homework (Ig and Talon had settled back in their rooms, homework in a nice stack, them curled up together looking like puppies or really cute little kids than the hardened hybrids they were) we all went to sleep.

Fang was calmly reading some book on defensive spells he had found, and I was leaning against him, looking over his shoulder.

Things had cooled over, and the anger had been stored away for a later day when we could actually get back at Umbridge.

"Comfy?" Fang asked, pausing as he was about to turn a page, I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Very," I answered, letting my eyes glance over the page he was reading.

Salvio Hexia;_ provides protection from hexes. _Well, wasn't _that_ informative. At least he found other ways of learning defense. Sure as heck not going to learn anything from Umbridge.

"How'd wrestling Gazzy into the bath go?" I asked casually, looking up at him.

He shifted a bit to wrap his arm around my shoulder. "Great. Even if most of the water got soaked into my clothes than anything…"

I laughed at that, a very clear picture of Fang looking like a drenched rat, glaring, while Gazzy scrambled out of the bathroom cackling.

"Something funny?" he asked, looking straight into my eyes.

"Nah, just sounds like you had a ton of fun," I teased.

Fang's eyes flickered to my left hand, his lips quirking down. "More fun than you, apparently," he murmured dryly.

"Definitely."

"It isn't a far jump to go from making students bleed to stuffing them in…cages," to the untrained ear, he said it with no emotion. But to my clearly trained ear, he had a distinct tone of _This lady makes me crawl the walls._

"That won't happen," I said firmly, twisting around and putting my hands on his shoulders. "It _won't_ happen. None of us will be in a cage as long as I'm alive. I've told you this _how_ many times?"

"Lost count," he replied. "Max, we're not invincible. Especially against these people. We don't even know about this magic business. Back at that Sirius guy's house, I read about a spell that could eject your intestines, some that screwed with your mind and others that could cause plenty of damage to _anyone_."

I blinked. I was _so_ not expecting that.

_Every race has its pros and cons, Maximum._

I scowled, _Why hello Voice. Dropped in for some tea? Or are you going to freaking tell me what the heck that meant?_

Fang opened his mouth to talk again but I pressed a finger to his lips, tapping my head—

—and I am an idiot!

Not realizing that taking my hands off of his shoulders would make me lose my balance in the little contortionist position I was trying to pull.

Then I went falling down, face colliding with Fang's chest.

"_Oomph!"_ he said as the air rushed out of his lungs, a thump following after words as he bumped his head against the wall.

"Ugh, Fang, I think my face is officially 2D," I complained, rolling off of him. "I freaking blame you—"

His hand flashed out and wrapped around my waist, and I looked up at him oddly, hand still on my nose.

"You're going to roll straight off the bed, moron," he said sort of exasperated, sort of amused.

Cue furious blush of mortification.

* * *

The next day was when they actually got to take out their wands.

And Tally was called up to Professor Flitwick's desk just before class started.

"I am told that you will be attempting all your spells nonverbally, Miss Ghost," he said.

Talon felt awkward as the small man craned his neck upwards, completely dwarfed by her five foot ten frame. She nodded.

"Well, then, I would like to test that out now, if you don't mind. Gauge your abilities," he said pleasantly.

Tally nodded again, this time warily. She had been attempting easy charms all night long, when a Max and Fang wouldn't shut up she had untangled herself from Iggy (he slept like the dead when he felt safe) and continued practicing more of the rudimentary charms and transfigurations. She had memorized a lot of the spells from a few text books Hermione had lent her as well, that is, while Max wasn't looking.

"All right then, please wave your wand at this feather,"—he proffered a feather that looked eerily like one of hers—"the levitation charm. The movement is a—"

But before he had said anything Tally had already swished and flicked her wand, and the feather was floating in synchronization with her wand.

Professor Flitwick's face practically glowed as he clapped, "Well done, Miss Ghost! Well done!"—he brought out a purple vase with intricate azure flame designs and let it fall on the floor, smashing it to pieces—"Fix this for me?"

Tally nodded, waving her wand at it thinking _Reparo_ with the same amount of concentration she usually used to send a picture, imagining the vase as it was moments before.

The shards shook a little bit before flying back together, gluing together.

"Ten points to Gryffindor!" Professor Flitwick said with plenty enthusiasm to spare.

Tally bobbed her head satisfied before returning to her seat.

"Where the hell did you learn all that?" Max hissed from her side.

Talon gave her an impish smile. _I actually study when it comes down to it. I don't like surprises, _she mimed.

Transfiguration went by without too much trouble, thought Tally didn't succeed in vanishing her snail, but Max and Fang did, to her chagrin.

_Guess I can't be good in everything,_ she thought as Max gave her a teasing look.

"Don't worry, Tal, we'll kick their arses in the next class," Iggy proclaimed with a completely horrible imitation of a British accent, holding his arm out for her. Well, she would be surprised if _someone_ didn't smack him for making fun of the local culture and accents.

_Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, buddy_, she looped her arm through his and they walked out onto the grounds for Care of Magical Creatures.

* * *

That night, we had the _extreme_ pleasure of getting the Umbridge Hand Torture with Harry.

He seemed to sense that we were all pissed off because he didn't ask even one question. Like, oh say, why in h-e-double-toothpicks Fang was stalking behind him with a look that could mistake him for the Grim Reaper from _The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy_—minus the wicked sickle.

Fang stood guard at the front of Umbridge's classroom before I waved him off, giving him a reassuring nod.

He returned the gesture and turned on his heel, the students parting as he trudged back.

Tally, Iggy and I sat down in the same seats as yesterday, Iggy's pen levitating when Tally took hers in her left hand.

Harry looked at us curiously as we waited for him to get a quill and settle himself down for a round of Torturing the Students with punishments from my Nana's time.

He asked for ink, to which Tally gave a soundless laugh, a very sarcastic look in her eyes.

We would all be going to our common rooms with stinging hands again tonight.

* * *

**A/N: Review. Please. **

**Edited September 27****th**** 2009**


	6. Nervous Fang and Pranks Galore

6

The week of detentions went by fast…at least, fast for everyone but Harry, Iggy, Tally and me.

Fang even joined us for a night when he 'accidently' called Umbridge a Fire Breathing Toad-Dragon Hybrid under his breath. (Was he taking a leaf out of Tally's books with the drawn out descriptions? Or was that his inner poet shining through again?) Unfortunately for him, the class had finally shut up when he said it and the Toad had been almost gleeful to hand out a detention to him.

Tally and Fang disappeared for a while that night, most likely having one of their sibling bonding moments, hunched over a voodoo doll of Umbridge (stabbing her in her beady eyes or her spleen probably…) and blogging to their hearts content.

Which is just fine with me…I mean, that was what we were here for, right?

Make Umbridge's life a living hell. Her provoking our more vicious and wanna-rip-off-your-head natures just provided some incentive.

Bad news?

The Pyro Trio refused to answer when I asked what they were planning.

"Fang?" I asked when we finally had some alone time

He looked at me with endless black eyes, showing me I had his attention.

"What are those pyromaniacs planning?"

He flashed me a grin, his body blending into the background temporarily so all I saw was white teeth looking back at me. "Wouldn't you want to know."

"So you know!" I said indignantly into thin air. "You know and you aren't _telling _me?"

He laughed, the motion making him visible again.

I smacked his arm, "It's not funny!"

But that didn't mean that I wasn't able to see how funny the situation was. Did I burst into laughter as well? You betcha.

When we finally sobered some, he just suddenly swooped down and kissed me.

At which point, my mind just decided to go on vacation or must've been seriously doped up on something.

When we finally pulled apart, panting a bit, I asked, "What was that for?" in a rather breathless manner that reminded me of all those cheesy romance Cinderella-y movies Nudge loves so much.

"Felt like it," he said, stroking my hair.

_Oh yeah, brilliant elaboration, Einstein. _

* * *

"Okay, and so you flick your hand like so"—she move her hand in a severe jab-like motion that could barely pass as a flick—"and say—erm—think the incantation."

Talon nodded, doing just as Hermione said, her eyes lighting up when the cloth they were working on burst into flames.

Max never said _she_ couldn't work on the _Incendio_ charm with Hermione…and what Max didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"And then to put it out?" Hermione asked, glancing at a book she had on one of the outdated and dusty desks in the unused classroom.

Tally waved her wand, and a spout of water came out from the tip, extinguishing the tongues of flame that were steadily eating the lace cloth. Then flicked it again thinking _Reparo._

"All right already," Iggy muttered. "My turn to wave the stick and say magical words and whatever."

Tally made a show of slamming her elbow into his ribs, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Youch! Tally! Dang it! I am not made of glass you know, geez your elbows are pointy."

_Stop your bellyaching. I can always make it up to you…_

"Really? _How_ are you going to make it up to me? The way that I like?"

Hermione made a disgusted sound, stepping back and looking a bit green around the gills. "Ugh, revolting. Please don't speak like that in front of me."

Tally's head whirled around to look down at the short bushy haired girl in surprise. _What the hell does she think we're talking about? Revolting? What about naming deserts with the nicknames for the male anatomy? What's next? The boob shake! Or is that a dance?_

"Really Hermione?" Iggy asked, grinning evilly (partly because of Tally's comments and partly because of Hermione's insinuations). "We were just talking about her making me some hot chocolate. But we can go with _your_ suggestion."

Tally's ears burned with mortification and Hermione balked.

_I have half a mind to drop kick you and let you mourn your unborn children…_ Tally thought darkly, turning on her heel and marching out of the empty classroom and opting for walking around aimlessly.

_Wonder where Nudge is…_

At night, after our nice little flight before dinner, hell broke out.

We were in the Great Hall and the Pyro Trio had these little looks about them. Tally, as always, seemed stoic but her eyes were dancing and her mouth was quirking up a bit, Gazzy was out right nearly cackling and Iggy had this grin that made me feel uneasy.

Not to mention Fang seemed to be mirroring his twin and Angel seemed to have put all her attention into playing with Total's fur.

So, Nudge and I turned our heads to the head table.

Obviously, today was the day that the pranksters had chosen to attack the Toad.

And what happened…was not a let down.

Her hands were shaking, she was shrieking…

And her wardrobe seemed to have been thrown into the wash with Tally and Fang's clothes.

Black cardigan, black hair, black nails…everywhere that used to be pink was drenched in it. Little spindly spider webs of black bleeding into everything, sometimes creating obscene phrases before they became solid ("Beeyotch" and "TOAD HYBRID FROM HELL" being some of my favorites) or just depicting a crude stick figure.

The Great Hall burst into snickers and laughter. Professor McGonagall's mouth twisted into a smirk, with the rest of the teachers in much of the same situation.

Except for Dumbledore, but he had that weird twinkly eyes thing going on, so I guess that accounted as a laugh.

"Press the button already," Iggy muttered impatiently.

"Fine," Gazzy grumbled, touching a little blue button on a remote.

And the cherry on the top was?

Loud crackling lightening like sounds as the food in front of Umbridge exploded, coating her face in a nice layer of soot and goopy lumpy chowder.

"It's an improvement!" The Weasley twins yelled from the Gryffindor.

Umbridge shrieked and left the Great Hall in a huff, chowder flopping off of her face and jiggling on her triple chins in a way that both amused me and made me gag a bit.

"How did you get that to work inside of Hogwarts? Electronic devices don't work here!" Nudge asked speedily. "Or else Tally and Fang would have been blogging and stuff and then we would have microwaves and TVs to entertains us and—"

"A spell Fang found," Iggy said, slapping high fives with my boyfriend. "In a book Dumbledore gave to us."

"That was bloody brilliant!" The twins, the Weasley twins that is, said in unison.

Tally gave a shrug, crossing her long legs almost at the same time as her brother, both reaching for a "butterbeer" someone had smuggled in.

"Anyone notice how they think _Tally and Fang_ were the ones who did it? Like, with one wing tied?" Iggy asked bitterly.

And I was on the same boat as him.

See, I was a bit edgy, cause the Stoic Twins were surrounded by red heads, both male and female…

And we all know how Fang just _loves_ red heads, and how Tally just plain _loves_ red heads (Iggy had orange-ish blonde hair…but we all know how she was so flirty with that Dylan kid back in West Virginia).

"Yeah, I think they're getting a bit _too_ much attention. It might add some more rocks to their heads—"

"Oh," Iggy said a bit darkly, getting up, his robe swishing. He gave me one brief "glance." "Tally's calling for help."

I watched Iggy stride across the room and pointedly sitting close to Tally, winding his arm across her waist, smirking when she quickly turned to press her lips against his.

"Max?"

I looked down at Angel as she tugged my robe. "Fang wants some help too. Says that the girls are making a bit…apprehensive? What does that mean?"

"It means nervous," I answered. "Thanks, sweetie."

And I came up right when one of the girls—Romilda Vane? Wasn't that the Gryffindor Whore…uh, I mean, er…dang—asked Fang if he was single.

So I did the one of the more underhanded, bellow the belt moves that I knew of. (All right, I came up with it on the spot after seeing Tally and Iggy going all mushy gooey on each other)

I came up behind him and folded my arms so that they rested just bellow his collar bone, then leaned my head down. "Angel said you called?" I whispered into his ear, laughing my butt off on the inside when I saw goose bumps on him.

He gave one sharp nod, purposely leaning into my touch; a strange gleam in his eyes as the girls glared at me.

"Heh," I walked around the back of the couch and practically squished myself next to Fang. I repressed the urge to stick my tongue out at all the girls, cause how would that make me look? The "Leader of the Volaticii" sticking her tongue out like a six year old.

* * *

The next day, Tally had decided "to hell with doing nothing" and got herself ready for the day, tying her boots up.

She glanced outside, determined it to be around seven-ish and strode over to where Iggy was, cheek smushed against his pillow, lying on his stomach, mumbling something about "evil Max" and "Gazzy! Rip one on her!"

A soft smile came to her lips as she watched him sleep.

She chuckled softly, turning on her heel and digging through his trunk for some clean robes. (Something that she didn't have to worry much about anymore, the house elves apparently took pride in all that was washing boxers and panties and bras and making sure they were spotless and unharmed, much to Tally's amusement and horror.)

She frowned when she reached for a tie and her hand came away practically _bathed_ in soot. Shaking her head, she waved her wand at it, imagining it spotless as she thought _Scourgify_.

Tally turned back to where Iggy was snoring softly, leaning down to press her lips to his head, _Morning. Time to get up and see Umbridge glare at us._

"Bite me," Iggy grumbled.

A dark light slid across Tally's eyes, _Sure. You asked for it. _

"Wha' th—Ow. Did you just bite me?"

Tally grinned as he rubbed his ear, pushing himself up drowsily. _Yep._

"You are evil."

_Yep._

"And now we have to go see Umbridge's fugly face?"

_Yep._

"Fine, let's go."

Tally chuckled soundlessly, spinning him around as he began to make his way to the spiral stair case. _Hold on, cowboy. You _are_ aware that you're in some pokémon boxers, and a t-shirt, about to march down into the Great Hall?_

"Right, right…" he yawned shamelessly, turning back around, his foot slamming into his trunk. "Ouch! Damn it! What the fu—! Did you move my trunk?"

_Nope, must've been the house elves. Here are your clothes and we're sitting with Hermione today, I wanna ask her about this spell I'm having trouble with. _

"Jeez, someone's a busy bee today…" he muttered, making it to the bathroom effortlessly.

_Not a busy bee. I'm not a bug hybrid…that would be completely and totally icky to be crossed with a _bug_. Bleh, I hate bees. Too bright yellow…_

"Yeah, yeah," Iggy said, walking out of the bathroom after a few minutes, listening to Tally's running commentary. "Whatever you say Tally, bees, yellow, triple yuck, got it. Let's go to breakfast now."

She rolled her eyes, _You are definitely not a morning person. Or an anytime-when-you-wake-up person. We don't have to go now anyways, we've got fifteen minutes or something before Max and Fang come stumbling down the stairs in their "I am leader and second in command, here me rawr" type fashion._

"What are you implying, Talon?" Iggy asked, muttering something about the nice shade of burgundy that the tie was.

She repressed a sigh, pushing some black hair back behind her ear, _Nothing. Let's just go down stairs, make sure Nudge hasn't kicked anyone to death in her sleep and find Hermione. _

Tally was making her way to the stairs and Iggy stopped her, placing a soft kiss on her neck, lingering. "Such a dummy, sometimes."

_Max _does_ insist that Fang and I have rocks in our heads…_

"Glad you're _you_ and not Fang though. That'd be nasty."

_We're twins. Just about the same thing except for the technical things. Like male and female. _

"And the fact that you ramble like no tomorrow…" he turned her around, pressing his lips to hers briefly.

She smiled, and looked up at him, pretty dang sure that her happy vibes were suffocating him. _Who the hell needs caffeine? If we could bottle the way a kiss wakes you up and gets you wired, we'd be mighty rich bird kids._

Iggy shook his head, lacing their hands together and walking down the staircase. "Uh-huh, whatever you say." And then more quietly to himself; "Wonder if _Fang_ rambles like this."

She rolled her eyes, _Angel says he thinks just as much as I do. Just that he stays on topic. Like Max for instance. He'd think about the exact shade of Max's hair and be a love struck fool for _hours.

"Sounds like you, yeah. Twins, geez."

Another elbow jab that he evaded. "Dang your violent, woman."

_But you still are my boyfriend,_ she thought impishly, pushing on the painting that led out of the little "Nest."

* * *

Tally had been silently drinking her OJ when the post came.

And Hermione gasped and spread out the _Daily Prophet._

**MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM**

**DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST-EVER "HIGH-INQUISITOR"**

"What the hell?" Iggy muttered, reaching across the table to brush his sensitive fingers over the ink.

_Damn, wasn't this what we were trying to prevent?_ Tally asked, scowling at the smiling Toad on the front page. Of course, Umbridge was sitting at the teachers table, smiling just like in the photo at the article, only a few remnants of the prank that the Pyro Trio had done on her left. Like the splotches of black soot or the inky coloring of her hair.

Iggy gave a small nod.

"'High Inquisitor'?" said Harry darkly, the little piece of toast he had in his hand flopping onto his plate. "What does _that_ mean?"

"And _that_ is the golden question. Read it out loud, will you Hermione?" Iggy more of ordered than asked.

And read she did:

"_In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

"'_The Minister has been growing uneasy about the going-ons at Hogwarts for some time,' said Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley. 'He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve.'_

"_This is not the first time in recent weeks Fudge has used new laws to effect improvements at the Wizarding school. As recently as August 30__th__ Educational Decree Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person._

Tally gave a disgruntled huff, _So we can blame this damn Ministry for yanking us out of our normal lives to all this magic crap._

"'_That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts,' said Weasley last night. 'Dumbledore couldn't find anyone, so the Minister put in Umbridge and of course, she's been an immediate success—"_

"What the fu—?" Iggy exclaimed at the same time as Harry said loudly, "She's been a WHAT?"

"Wait, there's more," said Hermione grimly. Tally openly glared at the flimsy piece of newspaper, wishing that picture of Umbridge would bust into flames. Or her real life counter part.

"—_an immediate success, totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts.' _

"'_This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the falling standards" at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, and we are delighted to say that she has accepted._

"_The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students at Hogwarts._

"'_I feel much easier in my mind now that I know that Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation,' said Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking form his Wiltshire mansion last night. 'Many of us with our children's best interest at heart have been concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions in the last few years and will be glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation.'_

"_Among the 'eccentric decisions' are undoubtedly the controversial staff appointments previously described in this newspaper, which have included the hiring of werewolf Remus Lupin, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, delusional ex-Auror 'Mad-Eye' Moody. And the more recent invitation to the group of seven and one dog Flock of Volaticii. (See more on page 7, Volaticii, for these magical creaures.)_

Tally's lip curled up in a snarl while the fork that was in Iggy's hand started to visibly bend and whine with the force he was exerting on it.

Hermione kept on reading and when she finished she looked across the table at Harry and Ron, not noticing how Tally silently nicked the paper and tapped Iggy's hand.

They both got up and moved across the room to where the rest of the flock were eating.

They plopped down at the empty side of the bench and Tally smoothed the paper in front of Max, pointing at the line that said "eccentric decision" and then to where "Flock of Volaticii" was listed.

"What the…?" Max muttered, setting down her spoon and flipping to page 7.

**THE VOLATICII "FLOCK" AMBASSADORS**

**DANGEROUS MAGICAL CREATURES?**

"_The Ministry of Magic has been recently informed of the flock of Volaticii children that were let into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. However, you might not be aware of what exactly these creatures are._

"_Volaticii are roughly translated to 'Winged.' Which is precisely what these children are. But little is known about Volaticii besides their many abilities and severely short temper. Some even go as far as to call them 'half-breeds.'_

"_The Volaticii wield preternatural powers, both to the Muggle World and our own magical world. Faster, stronger and much cleverer than Aurors even as babies. _

"_But then WHY are they not the Aurors in this world? They would surely be more than apt to have brought down He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named fifteen years ago._—"

"Back when we were nothing but little twinkles in the scientist's eyes…" Iggy said, causing mirthless laughter from Nudge and Gazzy.

"_The true answer: the Volaticii have not been seen for centuries. Nonetheless, these must be the most dangerous of the bunch. Battles with werewolves and killing many with explosions and muggle weapons, constantly in the muggle eye and even seeking out attention…are these children really safe for the students in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Has Dumbledore finally lost what ever semblance of sanity he wielded in the past?_

"_Parents are completely distraught, howlers are said to be accumulating by the dozens on the headmasters desk, answered with a simple dismissive…"_

Max threw down the paper at that point, snarling. "So we're not allowed to fight for our lives anymore?"

"Apparently not," Fang said, looking at the paper distastefully.

* * *

**Edited September 27****th**** 2009**


	7. Again

6

The week of detentions went by fast…at least, fast for everyone but Harry, Iggy, Tally and me.

Fang even joined us for a night when he 'accidently' called Umbridge a Fire Breathing Toad-Dragon Hybrid under his breath. (Was he taking a leaf out of Tally's books with the drawn out descriptions? Or was that his inner poet shining through again?) Unfortunately for him, the class had finally shut up when he said it and the Toad had been almost gleeful to hand out a detention to him.

Tally and Fang disappeared for a while that night, most likely having one of their sibling bonding moments, hunched over a voodoo doll of Umbridge (stabbing her in her beady eyes or her spleen probably…) and blogging to their hearts content.

Which is just fine with me…I mean, that was what we were here for, right?

Make Umbridge's life a living hell. Her provoking our more vicious and wanna-rip-off-your-head natures just provided some incentive.

Bad news?

The Pyro Trio refused to answer when I asked what they were planning.

"Fang?" I asked when we finally had some alone time

He looked at me with endless black eyes, showing me I had his attention.

"What are those pyromaniacs planning?"

He flashed me a grin, his body blending into the background temporarily so all I saw was white teeth looking back at me. "Wouldn't you want to know."

"So you know!" I said indignantly into thin air. "You know and you aren't _telling _me?"

He laughed, the motion making him visible again.

I smacked his arm, "It's not funny!"

But that didn't mean that I wasn't able to see how funny the situation was. Did I burst into laughter as well? You betcha.

When we finally sobered some, he just suddenly swooped down and kissed me.

At which point, my mind just decided to go on vacation or must've been seriously doped up on something.

When we finally pulled apart, panting a bit, I asked, "What was that for?" in a rather breathless manner that reminded me of all those cheesy romance Cinderella-y movies Nudge loves so much.

"Felt like it," he said, stroking my hair.

_Oh yeah, brilliant elaboration, Einstein. _

* * *

"Okay, and so you flick your hand like so"—she move her hand in a severe jab-like motion that could barely pass as a flick—"and say—erm—think the incantation."

Talon nodded, doing just as Hermione said, her eyes lighting up when the cloth they were working on burst into flames.

Max never said _she_ couldn't work on the _Incendio_ charm with Hermione…and what Max didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"And then to put it out?" Hermione asked, glancing at a book she had on one of the outdated and dusty desks in the unused classroom.

Tally waved her wand, and a spout of water came out from the tip, extinguishing the tongues of flame that were steadily eating the lace cloth. Then flicked it again thinking _Reparo._

"All right already," Iggy muttered. "My turn to wave the stick and say magical words and whatever."

Tally made a show of slamming her elbow into his ribs, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Youch! Tally! Dang it! I am not made of glass you know, geez your elbows are pointy."

_Stop your bellyaching. I can always make it up to you…_

"Really? _How_ are you going to make it up to me? The way that I like?"

Hermione made a disgusted sound, stepping back and looking a bit green around the gills. "Ugh, revolting. Please don't speak like that in front of me."

Tally's head whirled around to look down at the short bushy haired girl in surprise. _What the hell does she think we're talking about? Revolting? What about naming deserts with the nicknames for the male anatomy? What's next? The boob shake! Or is that a dance?_

"Really Hermione?" Iggy asked, grinning evilly (partly because of Tally's comments and partly because of Hermione's insinuations). "We were just talking about her making me some hot chocolate. But we can go with _your_ suggestion."

Tally's ears burned with mortification and Hermione balked.

_I have half a mind to drop kick you and let you mourn your unborn children…_ Tally thought darkly, turning on her heel and marching out of the empty classroom and opting for walking around aimlessly.

_Wonder where Nudge is…_

* * *

At night, after our nice little flight before dinner, hell broke out.

We were in the Great Hall and the Pyro Trio had these little looks about them. Tally, as always, seemed stoic but her eyes were dancing and her mouth was quirking up a bit, Gazzy was out right nearly cackling and Iggy had this grin that made me feel uneasy.

Not to mention Fang seemed to be mirroring his twin and Angel seemed to have put all her attention into playing with Total's fur.

So, Nudge and I turned our heads to the head table.

Obviously, today was the day that the pranksters had chosen to attack the Toad.

And what happened…was not a let down.

Her hands were shaking, she was shrieking…

And her wardrobe seemed to have been thrown into the wash with Tally and Fang's clothes.

Black cardigan, black hair, black nails…everywhere that used to be pink was drenched in it. Little spindly spider webs of black bleeding into everything, sometimes creating obscene phrases before they became solid ("Beeyotch" and "TOAD HYBRID FROM HELL" being some of my favorites) or just depicting a crude stick figure.

The Great Hall burst into snickers and laughter. Professor McGonagall's mouth twisted into a smirk, with the rest of the teachers in much of the same situation.

Except for Dumbledore, but he had that weird twinkly eyes thing going on, so I guess that accounted as a laugh.

"Press the button already," Iggy muttered impatiently.

"Fine," Gazzy grumbled, touching a little blue button on a remote.

And the cherry on the top was?

Loud crackling lightening like sounds as the food in front of Umbridge exploded, coating her face in a nice layer of soot and goopy lumpy chowder.

"It's an improvement!" The Weasley twins yelled from the Gryffindor.

Umbridge shrieked and left the Great Hall in a huff, chowder flopping off of her face and jiggling on her triple chins in a way that both amused me and made me gag a bit.

"How did you get that to work inside of Hogwarts? Electronic devices don't work here!" Nudge asked speedily. "Or else Tally and Fang would have been blogging and stuff and then we would have microwaves and TVs to entertains us and—"

"A spell Fang found," Iggy said, slapping high fives with my boyfriend. "In a book Dumbledore gave to us."

"That was bloody brilliant!" The twins, the Weasley twins that is, said in unison.

Tally gave a shrug, crossing her long legs almost at the same time as her brother, both reaching for a "butterbeer" someone had smuggled in.

"Anyone notice how they think _Tally and Fang_ were the ones who did it? Like, with one wing tied?" Iggy asked bitterly.

And I was on the same boat as him.

See, I was a bit edgy, cause the Stoic Twins were surrounded by red heads, both male and female…

And we all know how Fang just _loves_ red heads, and how Tally just plain _loves_ red heads (Iggy had orange-ish blonde hair…but we all know how she was so flirty with that Dylan kid back in West Virginia).

"Yeah, I think they're getting a bit _too_ much attention. It might add some more rocks to their heads—"

"Oh," Iggy said a bit darkly, getting up, his robe swishing. He gave me one brief "glance." "Tally's calling for help."

I watched Iggy stride across the room and pointedly sitting close to Tally, winding his arm across her waist, smirking when she quickly turned to press her lips against his.

"Max?"

I looked down at Angel as she tugged my robe. "Fang wants some help too. Says that the girls are making a bit…apprehensive? What does that mean?"

"It means nervous," I answered. "Thanks, sweetie."

And I came up right when one of the girls—Romilda Vane? Wasn't that the Gryffindor Whore…uh, I mean, er…dang—asked Fang if he was single.

So I did the one of the more underhanded, bellow the belt moves that I knew of. (All right, I came up with it on the spot after seeing Tally and Iggy going all mushy gooey on each other)

I came up behind him and folded my arms so that they rested just bellow his collar bone, then leaned my head down. "Angel said you called?" I whispered into his ear, laughing my butt off on the inside when I saw goose bumps on him.

He gave one sharp nod, purposely leaning into my touch; a strange gleam in his eyes as the girls glared at me.

"Heh," I walked around the back of the couch and practically squished myself next to Fang. I repressed the urge to stick my tongue out at all the girls, cause how would that make me look? The "Leader of the Volaticii" sticking her tongue out like a six year old.

* * *

The next day, Tally had decided "to hell with doing nothing" and got herself ready for the day, tying her boots up.

She glanced outside, determined it to be around seven-ish and strode over to where Iggy was, cheek smushed against his pillow, lying on his stomach, mumbling something about "evil Max" and "Gazzy! Rip one on her!"

A soft smile came to her lips as she watched him sleep.

She chuckled softly, turning on her heel and digging through his trunk for some clean robes. (Something that she didn't have to worry much about anymore, the house elves apparently took pride in all that was washing boxers and panties and bras and making sure they were spotless and unharmed, much to Tally's amusement and horror.)

She frowned when she reached for a tie and her hand came away practically _bathed_ in soot. Shaking her head, she waved her wand at it, imagining it spotless as she thought _Scourgify_.

Tally turned back to where Iggy was snoring softly, leaning down to press her lips to his head, _Morning. Time to get up and see Umbridge glare at us._

"Bite me," Iggy grumbled.

A dark light slid across Tally's eyes, _Sure. You asked for it. _

"Wha' th—Ow. Did you just bite me?"

Tally grinned as he rubbed his ear, pushing himself up drowsily. _Yep._

"You are evil."

_Yep._

"And now we have to go see Umbridge's fugly face?"

_Yep._

"Fine, let's go."

Tally chuckled soundlessly, spinning him around as he began to make his way to the spiral stair case. _Hold on, cowboy. You _are_ aware that you're in some pokémon boxers, and a t-shirt, about to march down into the Great Hall?_

"Right, right…" he yawned shamelessly, turning back around, his foot slamming into his trunk. "Ouch! Damn it! What the fu—! Did you move my trunk?"

_Nope, must've been the house elves. Here are your clothes and we're sitting with Hermione today, I wanna ask her about this spell I'm having trouble with. _

"Jeez, someone's a busy bee today…" he muttered, making it to the bathroom effortlessly.

_Not a busy bee. I'm not a bug hybrid…that would be completely and totally icky to be crossed with a _bug_. Bleh, I hate bees. Too bright yellow…_

"Yeah, yeah," Iggy said, walking out of the bathroom after a few minutes, listening to Tally's running commentary. "Whatever you say Tally, bees, yellow, triple yuck, got it. Let's go to breakfast now."

She rolled her eyes, _You are definitely not a morning person. Or an anytime-when-you-wake-up person. We don't have to go now anyways, we've got fifteen minutes or something before Max and Fang come stumbling down the stairs in their "I am leader and second in command, here me rawr" type fashion._

"What are you implying, Talon?" Iggy asked, muttering something about the nice shade of burgundy that the tie was.

She repressed a sigh, pushing some black hair back behind her ear, _Nothing. Let's just go down stairs, make sure Nudge hasn't kicked anyone to death in her sleep and find Hermione. _

Tally was making her way to the stairs and Iggy stopped her, placing a soft kiss on her neck, lingering. "Such a dummy, sometimes."

_Max _does_ insist that Fang and I have rocks in our heads…_

"Glad you're _you_ and not Fang though. That'd be nasty."

_We're twins. Just about the same thing except for the technical things. Like male and female. _

"And the fact that you ramble like no tomorrow…" he turned her around, pressing his lips to hers briefly.

She smiled, and looked up at him, pretty dang sure that her happy vibes were suffocating him. _Who the hell needs caffeine? If we could bottle the way a kiss wakes you up and gets you wired, we'd be mighty rich bird kids._

Iggy shook his head, lacing their hands together and walking down the staircase. "Uh-huh, whatever you say." And then more quietly to himself; "Wonder if _Fang_ rambles like this."

She rolled her eyes, _Angel says he thinks just as much as I do. Just that he stays on topic. Like Max for instance. He'd think about the exact shade of Max's hair and be a love struck fool for _hours.

"Sounds like you, yeah. Twins, geez."

Another elbow jab that he evaded. "Dang your violent, woman."

_But you still are my boyfriend,_ she thought impishly, pushing on the painting that led out of the little "Nest."

* * *

Tally had been silently drinking her OJ when the post came.

And Hermione gasped and spread out the _Daily Prophet._

**MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM**

**DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST-EVER "HIGH-INQUISITOR"**

"What the hell?" Iggy muttered, reaching across the table to brush his sensitive fingers over the ink.

_Damn, wasn't this what we were trying to prevent?_ Tally asked, scowling at the smiling Toad on the front page. Of course, Umbridge was sitting at the teachers table, smiling just like in the photo at the article, only a few remnants of the prank that the Pyro Trio had done on her left. Like the splotches of black soot or the inky coloring of her hair.

Iggy gave a small nod.

"'High Inquisitor'?" said Harry darkly, the little piece of toast he had in his hand flopping onto his plate. "What does _that_ mean?"

"And _that_ is the golden question. Read it out loud, will you Hermione?" Iggy more of ordered than asked.

And read she did:

"_In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

"'_The Minister has been growing uneasy about the going-ons at Hogwarts for some time,' said Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley. 'He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve.'_

"_This is not the first time in recent weeks Fudge has used new laws to effect improvements at the Wizarding school. As recently as August 30__th__ Educational Decree Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person._

Tally gave a disgruntled huff, _So we can blame this damn Ministry for yanking us out of our normal lives to all this magic crap._

"'_That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts,' said Weasley last night. 'Dumbledore couldn't find anyone, so the Minister put in Umbridge and of course, she's been an immediate success—"_

"What the fu—?" Iggy exclaimed at the same time as Harry said loudly, "She's been a WHAT?"

"Wait, there's more," said Hermione grimly. Tally openly glared at the flimsy piece of newspaper, wishing that picture of Umbridge would bust into flames. Or her real life counter part.

"—_an immediate success, totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts.' _

"'_This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the falling standards" at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, and we are delighted to say that she has accepted._

"_The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students at Hogwarts._

"'_I feel much easier in my mind now that I know that Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation,' said Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking form his Wiltshire mansion last night. 'Many of us with our children's best interest at heart have been concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions in the last few years and will be glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation.'_

"_Among the 'eccentric decisions' are undoubtedly the controversial staff appointments previously described in this newspaper, which have included the hiring of werewolf Remus Lupin, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, delusional ex-Auror 'Mad-Eye' Moody. And the more recent invitation to the group of seven and one dog Flock of Volaticii. (See more on page 7, Volaticii, for these magical creaures.)_

Tally's lip curled up in a snarl while the fork that was in Iggy's hand started to visibly bend and whine with the force he was exerting on it.

Hermione kept on reading and when she finished she looked across the table at Harry and Ron, not noticing how Tally silently nicked the paper and tapped Iggy's hand.

They both got up and moved across the room to where the rest of the flock were eating.

They plopped down at the empty side of the bench and Tally smoothed the paper in front of Max, pointing at the line that said "eccentric decision" and then to where "Flock of Volaticii" was listed.

"What the…?" Max muttered, setting down her spoon and flipping to page 7.

**THE VOLATICII "FLOCK" AMBASSADORS**

**DANGEROUS MAGICAL CREATURES?**

"_The Ministry of Magic has been recently informed of the flock of Volaticii children that were let into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. However, you might not be aware of what exactly these creatures are._

"_Volaticii are roughly translated to 'Winged.' Which is precisely what these children are. But little is known about Volaticii besides their many abilities and severely short temper. Some even go as far as to call them 'half-breeds.'_

"_The Volaticii wield preternatural powers, both to the Muggle World and our own magical world. Faster, stronger and much cleverer than Aurors even as babies. _

"_But then WHY are they not the Aurors in this world? They would surely be more than apt to have brought down He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named fifteen years ago._—"

"Back when we were nothing but little twinkles in the scientist's eyes…" Iggy said, causing mirthless laughter from Nudge and Gazzy.

"_The true answer: the Volaticii have not been seen for centuries. Nonetheless, these must be the most dangerous of the bunch. Battles with werewolves and killing many with explosions and muggle weapons, constantly in the muggle eye and even seeking out attention…are these children really safe for the students in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Has Dumbledore finally lost what ever semblance of sanity he wielded in the past?_

"_Parents are completely distraught, howlers are said to be accumulating by the dozens on the headmasters desk, answered with a simple dismissive…"_

Max threw down the paper at that point, snarling. "So we're not allowed to fight for our lives anymore?"

"Apparently not," Fang said, looking at the paper distastefully.

**Edited September 27****th**** 2009**


	8. Whiskey and Girls

8

_Something's off_, I evaluated based on the way Nudge and Tally weren't "chatting" each other up.

I had half a mind to go outside and check if I had failed my mission of saving the world and it was now going up in flames.

See, Tally being off to herself was fine—when we were in clearings after a battle and she had that dark look on her face; clearly not the case here.

And Nudge pointedly avoiding Tally and even going as far as _glaring_ at her was something that would just outright make people say the acronym "WTF?"

"What's up with your twin and Nudge?" I asked Fang while we wandered around the castle.

He looked at me before shrugging. "She seems disappointed."

"Then she must be disappointed in something Nudge did, right?" I attempted. "Cause Nudge _never ever_ glares at anyone."

Fang sighed, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Nudge _does_ glare at people. Last time she did that to me was in Tipisco when I kept telling her it was a bad idea."

"You mean when she was looking for her parents? Ouch…" I never really bothered to get the finer details about that one. I guess I just hadn't wanted to pry at the time, knowing how delicate the topic of "parents" was.

"Yeah," he said, his lips almost quirking up when I looped my arm through his to ward off some pesky little girls. I hurled a nasty glare their way for good measure. "Nudge only ever gets that way when something gets in the way of what she wants."

I glanced at my shoes, "But Nudge doesn't really want anything in particular…or does she? Maybe we should ask Angel?"

Fang shook his head, turning and heading to the library, making me stumble a bit. "No. Just try and talk to her. You know, one on one. I don't think she'd want to talk to _me_. Might remind her of whatever Tal did."

I huffed some when the scent of old musty books wafted into my nostrils, "Right. Good thinking. What are we getting today? More books on hexes and counterjinxes?"

He nodded and shook his arm out from where I had looped mine so that he could wrap it around my shoulders.

Some high pitched giggles made me roll my eyes at the first year Ravenclaw girls, _Typical._

* * *

Tally had met with Hermione quite a few times that week, smoothing over some details and writing down the pros and cons (of course, Hermione made a more _legible_ version since Talon's was basically loopy chicken scratch) of Harry teaching a secret Defense Class.

Of course she had told Hermione that she couldn't teach anyone _anything_ until Max had approved it.

Hermione didn't accept that. She continued to ask why and even went as far as asking "Are you not your own _person_ Tally? You can do whatever you want without Max."

Tally had shook her head and avidly explained the problem. _No. In a flock, we are family. What you're telling me to do is like going to a party without your parents' permission. (I think it works like that, right?) Which would give Max authority to turn me into kibble…_

"But Max isn't really your parent!" Hermione had refuted firmly.

_No, but she's my flock leader. She's saved our butts on a _ton_ of occasions. She makes the rules not me. It's all the same Hermione. I won't budge on this. I'm already risking a lot just discussing going to these things, let alone teaching without permission. _

Hermione let it drop that one instance. But she resumed bringing it up whenever they met, that is, until Talon threatened to just drop the whole thing and go side with Nudge.

And then when Talon wasn't with Hermione, she was with her twin, her boyfriend or Gazzy.

And now she was confronted with something entirely and friggin' _huge_.

Hermione had assigned her the task of trying to convince the flock to go to this Defense thing that she was thinking about.

So she had decided to test it on Iggy first, two days before the first Hogsmead trip, then her brother, and finally the head honcho; Maximum Ride.

But she might've played a bit dirty to sway him.

They had abandoned their divination homework ("I put 'I will die a feathery death on Tuesday,' what about you?" _I will choke on a chocolate frog. And you put that one for last Wednesday. _"Damn. Screw this!") in favor of something more…fun.

Fun meaning what most teenage couples did when left in a room by themselves.

They were kissing and teasing each other like crazy, glad that they were two levels above the Nest's Common Room with all the laughing they were doing.

She had ended up with her torso over his, their faces a few inches apart with one of his hands on her waist keeping her there. And while she was tracing her fingers around his lips (and she _knew_ he was a bit dazed by the goofy grin on his face) she asked him bluntly, _Do you think there should be a _real_ Defense class for this school?_

"Of course…" he said slowly. She examined his face in great detail, now ghosting her finger over his flushed cheeks.

_Well…Hermione thought that maybe, just maybe, there should be a student made Defense class…led by Harry Potter…_

She almost sighed in relief when he showed no signs of recoiling, merely toying with a lock of her long inky hair. _But Hermione wants us…to try to teach the kids how to _fight_ the way we do…so that they have a wild card or something…_

Iggy immediately sobered, eyebrows drawing together pensively. "And while they're out there fighting, won't someone become curious about how a ton of kids just suddenly learned how to round house kick some bastard into oblivion?"

Dang, this was exactly what she wanted to avoid. She _knew_ he wouldn't agree with her like some mindless drone, but explaining without managing to jumble her thoughts was going to be…something of a challenge.

_Karate class. Kung-Fu. Tai-Kwon-Do. The internet. Books, _she answered plainly.

"Yeah, like that excuse will work for all the wizards in the damn country."

She winced. _Yeah…it won't work on everyone…but we _are _going to learn along side them. Harry will teach us stuff Umbridge is too much of a cowardly wiener to. And we have the option of _not_ showing them anything. We can just be the students for once…y'know…_

It was quiet, the air suddenly growing awkward. "I…I guess I can give it a shot…have you run this by Max and Fang yet?"

This time, Talon _did_ sigh in relief. _No. I was hoping you could help me with Fang. How hard should it be? He thinks very much like me. And then we tackle the task of convincing our fearless and invincible leader. _

Iggy resumed toying with her hair, pulling her head down so that his lips brushed against hers as he talked. "Fine."

* * *

As it turned out, convincing Fang didn't take too much. Though he was reluctant at first he settled on Tally's terms.

She took a deep breath, glaring at Iggy when he nudged her forward.

Gritting her teeth, she wrapped her fingers around both her twin and her boyfriend's wrist and dragged them over to Max with her.

Max herself was curled up in Gryffindor Common Room, a book in her lap. Talon just assumed it was something that could be potentially useful in the future.

The boys protested behind her, getting Max's attention and causing them to falter and shut up.

"What's up, guys?" Max asked casually, cocking an eyebrow and dog-earing her book.

Tally nudged Iggy to start talking but Fang beat her to it first. "You wanted to know why Nudge and Tal were being so awkward around each other, right?"

Both Iggy and Talon blinked at that opening line; it was so completely out of left field!

"Yeah…you going to fess up, Talon?" Max asked, aiming her piercing eyes on Tally. She repressed the urge to gulp nervously, she knew full well how much raw _power_ this girl had.

Tally poked Iggy in the ribs when she caught him trying to inch behind her. _You explain._

"Why me?" Iggy asked quietly.

_You can talk. I can't,_ she thought, trying to keep out the bitter tone. _And I've had to brave both you and my brother. Ain't that enough? I swear I'll kick Hermione in the shin for all the gray hairs that are probably sprouting from my head. _

Iggy rolled his sightless eyes at her before launching into a full explanation.

Max grimaced, a _really_ bad sign. "And how did you end up fighting with Nudge over it?"

"She didn't really fight," Fang jumped in, slinging his arm around Max's shoulders.

Tally nearly smirked when she saw the same tactic she had been using on Iggy being used by her twin.

"Oh?" Max crossed her arms. "It wasn't?"

"No. Actually, Nudge has been on about wanting a normal life for a while. Her parents, remember?"

Max nodded slowly, and Tally almost let the warm shred of hope (that Max wasn't going to beat the courage out of her and rip her head off and search the inside of her skull for rocks) bloom. "Yeah, right, whatever. But all of these kids learning how to fight at once? We'll get more attention that we _need._"

Tally nodded, _I know that. But the magical world already knows about us. They actually _accept_ us. Though a bit warily. And if they know we're working to help save their kids and them, wouldn't that put us squarely on their _good_ sides? We can actually try and have a semi-normal life in this world. No fly-boys. No Erasers. No new possible threat we can't handle without people who are more capable than those normal kids. Face it, Max, we can actually _live_ here. No cages at all. No risks. _

Fang nodded as Iggy voiced her thoughts, the way his eyes shined clearly showing how he was seeing it her way.

"But," Talon was starting to hate that word. "That can also mean we're jumping into a world head first, new threats, things we don't even _know_ about. At least we know how to fend for ourselves in that world without wizards."

_Hey, you don't need to make a straight decision. We can just learn how to defend ourselves _if_ anything happens. And who better to learn from than the boy-who-lived? _

* * *

"I'm not going," Nudge said to Tally.

I watched from across the room as Tally, dressed in her jeans, and a thin, fur lined parka sent by my mom, made sharp gestures in the air, the planes of her face moving as if punctuating it all.

"I don't _care_ if it can help people," Nudge said. "I want to be normal! Can't you under_stand_ that Tally? I never wanted wings! I never wanted to be a freak! I just want to be normal! With normal parents! Go to a normal school! And have a normal LIFE! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Talon flinched back like she was wounded, frozen in place.

I watched as she slumped a bit as she watched Nudge stomp away to her fourth year friends.

Before I could make my way over to her, Angel and Gazzy were there, seemingly talking to her with their big round eyes before she seemed to pull herself together, nodded at them and ruffled their hair, then trudged over to Hermione.

They both "talked" for a few short moments before Tally returned to us and we set out.

Since we were "ambassadors," we got special permission to bring Gazzy and Angel along. I don't know _how_ Dumbledore managed to convince Umbridge and Filch, but hey, more power to him.

All of us, with the exception of Nudge, walked out, hands in our pockets. Who knew it could be so dang cold in _October!_

"No one thought to get me a coat! You are all so selfish!" Total whined.

"You've got a _fur coat_," I explained, rolling my eyes. "And you're zipped up in Angel's coat. Stop complaining, jeez."

"We can always let you walk on your own," Fang said slowly, midnight eyes staring straight ahead just as Gazzy started laughing hysterically at some pillars with humungous pigs with wings on them.

"When pigs fly!" he shrieked, nearly doubled over in laughter. "Get it Max?"

I couldn't help by laugh some as well, sure, it was a lame joke, but I was thinking of something else.

"Hey Tally!" I called. "We already _know_ some pigs that fly, don't we?"

She flashed a subdued smirk at me, pushing some hair behind her ear (I honestly can't understand why she lets it grow so _long!_ It'd get so annoying!) and nodded, giving a little sneaky glance at her brother and Iggy.

"Hey!" Iggy called out. "I resent that! I'm not that piggish—Okay, so my eating habits aren't good Tally—fine, yes, I don't clean up after myself—will you let me talk!"

I was full out laughing with everyone else. Their little spats were always something good for entertainment. Even when Iggy said something wrong and Tally started whaling on him for being an _idiot_ on top of a sexist pig.

"But not nearly as funny when you and Fang fight though," Angel said, responding to my thoughts.

"Course not," Iggy said, quick to change the subject and letting up from his goal of putting Tally in a headlock. "We all look for the nearest bomb shelter then, don't we Angel?"

"Not my fault," Fang muttered. "Usually, it's Max pulling a stupid stunt."

Just as I was about to open my mouth say something scathing and get out of his grip, a big black blur tackled Fang.

The way Tally was whacking Fang upside the head with a rolled up newspaper (that she probably summoned or something) and how he kept on making complaints reminded me of old cartoons. Yenno? The ones with the big clouds of dust with limbs flailing around so you _know_ it's a fight, but the violence little kids are exposed to is kept to a minimum? Yeah, that.

None of us stepped in, cause by the end, Fang was rubbing his head but his mouth was quirked to one side while Talon was full blown smiling, both of their faces tweaked red from wrestling.

"Come on, you kids, we need to get to the thing," I said, holding my hand out to Tally. She took it and gave me a little high five before jogging back up to where Iggy and the Gasman were."

The Hog's Head was a cramped little place, and I could see Tally wincing at all the cups and the pub in general.

I couldn't help but want to join her in one of her cleaning sprees, I wouldn't even let my mom's _dog_ Magnolia eat here. And that plainly gives you an idea about how unclean this joint was.

"Tally!" Hermione called from a table at the end, Harry and Ron flanking her. She summoned a few more chairs to their table. "What did she agree to?"

I blinked, did Hermione _not_ notice that I was standing _right behind_ Tally?

I gritted my teeth at being so casually ignored as Tally made a "so-so" gesture with her hand, tapping the table in front of a chair next to her to give Iggy the okay to sit.

"Actually, we'll attend, sure, but I'm not sure about teaching you guys to _fight…_" I said clearly, sitting in between Fang and Angel.

I snatched a napkin out of Tally's hand and started wiping down the area in front of Angel. The thought of her eating on the gross table top just made my skin crawl.

"That's perfectly fine, actually," Hermione said. "We'll be addressing that as well, but just between us. However, you have to understand that no matter your decision, you mustn't tell _anyone_ about what we're doing here. Is that alright with you, Max?"

I blinked and gave a sarcastic smile, "Yeah, yeah, as if we _haven't_ had a big secret on our shoulders before, Hermione."—I shifted my wings tighter against my back here-"Don't worry. Somehow, I think we can pull it off."

Before any of the Golden Trio could get a word in edge wise, the door to the pub opened and some grainy light split the pub in two before it was eclipsed by a _ton_ of people practically stampeding through the door and towards our table.

Fred walked up to the bar and ordered thirty butterbeers after counting up everyone (even us, since we didn't have drinks in front of us). I coughed up some sickles to pay for ours before helping Fang wipe down our bottles with another napkin Tally had gotten out of no where.

"Is this _real_ beer?" Iggy asked Ron out of the corner of his mouth.

"Not as strong as the muggle stuff. But more like what you Yanks call Root beer, from what 'Mione tells me, just a little bit of alcohol," he lowered his voice even more. "But we can get us some Fire Whisky after the girls wind down some."

"No," I snapped at Iggy before he could even ask.

"Max, why is Iggy thinking about 'getting drunk' to 'piss you off'?" Angel asked me, big blue eyes innocent, wide and mind so not meant to be asking that.

I gave Iggy a useless frosty glare, "Nothing sweetie. Iggy, we're having a little _talk_ after this."

Once everyone was there (and I was done planning my thorough verbal lashing for Iggy _after_ this little mission was over) the noise died down and everyone stared at Harry like he had just exclaimed he wanted to grow up to be a pretty-ful fairy Eraser.

But Hermione started everyone out, stuttering like no other (and causing Fang to tell Iggy that she needed to get some lessons from me) and somehow that turned into people telling Harry about all of his accomplishments (with more than one person wanting to clock Zacharias Smith in the jaw for being a freaking pompous jerk) and then finally boiling down to all of us signing this parchment that Hermione had brought with her, exchanging a nervous look with Tally.

By the time we were out of there, I was wondering if maybe I should have sided with Nudge on this one, what with all the…untrustworthy kids in there.

"Race you to Honeydukes, Iggy and Tally!" one of the twins said.

They grinned and picked up Angel and Gazzy, "You're handicap," Iggy explained before rocketing off fast as heck Gazzy laughing maniacally on his back while Tally matched him stride for stride, leaving the Weasley Twins in the dust.

I chuckled, taking my time and lacing Fang and my fingers together.

But I frowned when I saw Nudge in the distance at Glad Rags, laughing with her friends.

I needed to talk to her, and soon.


	9. Umbridge the Schmuck

9

The next day, I woke up cozy in my little cocoon of blankets wings stretched behind me and absorbing the toasty heat of the room.

I had been in the middle of a dream involving Fang in a bunny suit smiling like the Cheshire cat with his twin belting out "Sk8tr Boi" by Avril Lavigne and hopping around, Gazzy was having a staring contest with Total and Nudge and Angel seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

Thankfully, my internal alarm clock woke me up before the dream could get anymore hectic.

I snapped my eyes open and almost on auto-pilot did I put on my robes before watching Fang wake up (in a non-stalkerish-way).

We got our stuff and homework together before going down the metal spiral staircase, yelling at Iggy and Talon to wake the heck up, and then going all the way down to the first level (leaving a startled and tangled up Tal and Ig on the third floor and Total yapping at the rest of the younger kids to "up and at 'em").

Even if we had all of our gross, want-to-go-jump-in-a-ditch-and-die classes, we still had to get up.

Like I once said, "It's a new day, get up and face it."

But can we really do that while the ministry tried to ground us? Chain us to the ground, maybe capture us?

Oh!

I don't even want to think about that one.

If the magical world ever decided to capture us, we would be done for.

Other than the stoic twins soaking everything up like a sponge, we really wouldn't have much of a defense against a flashy spell like…oh, _Crucio_. (Fang had told me about the finer details of the Unforgivable Curses, in as little words as possible, as our "bed time story" last night).

Just thinking about trying to dodge something like that, or even get away from it uninjured….it just is unsettling…

And then it all comes back to that suggestion Tally made, about learning from Harry Potter.

Sure, I was fine with learning from him, who better to learn from than the kid who was virtually helping me shoulder the whole "save the world" burden in the magical universe?

But I just a had a problem with her other suggestion…that we teach them to fight our way.

See, Tally's argument was more than a bit flawed…and she had severe Hero-Syndrome like the rest of us, but when you paired that up with the concrete facts that Iggy and Fang had for me…

And then there was Nudge.

I had listened to her side of the story, and as much as it pained me, I had to agree with her on some of it.

Not the whole "I'm willing to cut my wings off" but more the whole "it would put us in more danger" part.

However, even if I got them both to spill the details of the argument, they both refused to apologize to each other in some stupid prideful way.

Of course, that was because they both thought that they were right.

I floated through those few minutes, being a total space cadet, smiling when the younger kids came down and stifling my laughs when bleary eyes Tally came down, Iggy yawning and in tow.

We all came out of the Nest only to have our attention turned to the Gryffindor notice board.

A mass of students were there, complaining and whining about some stuff. I was about to steer the flock away and off to the Great Hall when I heard the word "Umbridge" mentioned.

Fang and I exchanged a glance (while the other couple in the Flock seemed to just get very angry, very quickly) and went straight for it.

There was a big paper, like a poster board in and of itself, tacked to the notice board in this fancy script.

And it read like this:

_**Education Decree Number 24**_

_**By Order of the Hogwarts High Inquisitor**_

_All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, and Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled._

_The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four Signed by Dolores Jane Umbridge_

"She knows…" I whispered, half in horror.

Tally shook her head, and Iggy spoke for her, "She says that she, Umbridge, can't know. Hermione and all of us would be aware of it then…"

"But _how_?" Gazzy crowed. (Nudge, sensing what was coming, made a point of finding her Fourth Year friends.) "It's not like there's a spell or _anything _that can do that!"

"There is…?" Iggy more of questioned than stated, his head whipping around to "stare" at Tally's general direction, sightless eyes landing on her cheek. But it was pretty dang accurate.

Tally nodded her head.

"Ooh, she ji—" Tally slapped her hand over him mouth before he could finish, earning her an annoyed glare from him.

I took that as a cue of _We'll talk about it later. When we aren't surrounded by kids. _

So, being the awesome leader I am, I corralled them away, yelling at some kids to get the heck out of the way (finishing it in my head with _before I rip out your esophagus and make you eat it_).

Tally and Iggy were having a rapid conversation in Thought-enese. (What you can't speak it? Oh, right, you aren't a mutant that is susceptible to random and spontaneous mutations.)

I hazarded a glance at Fang, nudging Angel and Gazzy along, (who were being entertained by an incredulous Total, yapping on about rights) only to see that he was staring at me already.

I pushed down the savage urge to blush and instead settled for, "Take a picture. It'll last longer."

He blinked a bit surprised, then smirked, "Maybe I will."

My cheeks flooded with a bit of warmth despite my best efforts. "Sexists pig…" I muttered. "Sooo, your thoughts on your twin apparently going off with Hermione?"

He shrugged, turning his head to look forward again. He shrugged, Fangenese for _Iunno, _and then gave me a look that clearly said _I haven't had a chance to talk to her. _

I gave him a very sarcastic one, shaking my head in faux-disapproval before continuing on.

* * *

Once we got to the Great Hall and had stacked our plates sky high (what I wouldn't have given to go out for a morning flight), we encountered a…small problem.

Just as Tally was about to explain to us how we would have known if someone had tattled like a kindergartener, a very audible "_Hem, hem_," made my day take a steep nose dive.

"Yes?" I asked Umbridge, propping my chin up with my hand. "Need anything, teach?"

"Actually, yes, I do," she said, nose up and looking down it at us. Across the Great Hall, I could distinctly hear Nudge telling her friends to let her hear this.

I cocked an eyebrow, "Really? Then, could you hurry it along? We need nourishment for the _lovely_ and _useful_ lesson we'll be getting from you today."

She didn't even flush. Kudos to her. "I would like to address the matter of you 'Flock,' Miss Ride."

Huh? "I'm sorry, care to elaborate? I'm not a mind reader."

An angry tic in her eyebrow—at least I was getting to her.

"In accordance with Educational Decree Number 24, a group is three or more students. Your little Flock is a group of seven, thereby for all intents and purposes, a group."

That's all?

I put a hand up to my mouth, "Oh my, whatever shall we do? Guys, you here that? We're a _group_! Blasphemy!"

I smirked as the Pyro Trio pantomimed a bunch of "Oh no!" movements. My guys were _so_ awesome.

"Well," Umbridge said, all business and no play. "As the Decree stated, all groups are to be henceforth disbanded. I shall see to it that your group is separated, Ride."

My stomach dropped before something occurred to me while in the stony silence of the Great Hall.

"Correction, Dolores Dear," I said in my most sickening and saccharine voice, giving a smirk I usually reserved for Whitecoats. "We, meaning all those in this fine establishment who have wings, are under _my_ jurisdiction. Do you understand that?"

"Yes," she said. "But you all see to the Ministry of Ma—"

"Ah, ah ah!" I said, shaking my finger disapprovingly at her, loving the way her beady eyes seemed to flood with incredulity. "That is where you are wrong, Dolores. We are ambassadors while here, not students. And your little decree specifically states students as those to be disbanded. Not to mention that you must've missed a very golden law. Maximum Ride answers to _no one_. Get it? Got it? Good."

The Toad fumed in place for a second before storming back to the teacher's table, having nothing to say anymore.

I just smirked triumphantly.

Maybe today wasn't going to be as horrible as I thought.

* * *

Tally was completely confounded. If she looked one way, she'd see Iggy scratching his head and his hand opening and closing in the same way as hers.

See, they were in Snape's class.

But Umbridge was _also _in the class.

Tally and Iggy actually did _good_ in this class and tried not to get on Snape's bad side like Max's poor cooking skills did, so they refrained from the mushy-gushy hand holding stuff in his class.

But they made a point of getting on Umbridge's last nerve when they were anywhere near her, as in, making sure that people couldn't tell where Tally started and Iggy ended if they were in a corridor or something when she passed by.

But Snape plus Umbridge?

That just equaled one big headache for the mute girl and blind boy.

To screw around and potentially have their seemingly spotless record for Snape tainted? Or annoy the bologna out of Umbridge?

"What do we do?" Iggy asked her under his breath.

_I have no idea! Why are you asking me?_ _This situation gives me a huuuuge headache! _she thought, tapping her fingers against the table top anxiously.

"Right…pretend she's not there?" Iggy suggested, reaching for an ingredient without any trouble or asking what it was.

_Sure. But if she messes with us, a big mess is guaranteed, or your money back, _she stirred the contents of her Cauldron.

Max having told off the Toad had been refreshing, yes, and boosted everyone's egos plenty. But now that they were in a sort of lose-lose situation, it seemed pointless.

They worked on the Strengthening Solution quietly, not even murmuring as they usually did. However, they did snicker some when Fang started to get frustrated with trying to teach Max how to do the Solution semi-correctly.

Just as they were bottling up their potions, Umbridge made her way over to the disabled duo.

"Hello, Miss Ghost," Umbridge said with a slightly dark tone. "How are you today?"

_What's she up to?_ Tally gave a curt nod to acknowledge her, wondering what the flip this crack-pot batshit crazy lady from hell wanted out of her—the apparent half-breed.

"I hear that you have a _power_ separate from wizarding powers," she said loftily.

Tally never let her see how her stomach dropped and her heart began hammering, merely regarded Umbridge gravely. _How the hell am I supposed to answer that?_

"Care to demonstrate?"

Being a mutant, Tally had had to deal with many teasing-death situations.

So she recognized the line immediately and figured out with her wonderful powers of paranoia why she was asking that.

Umbridge wanted to get rid of them, right? She wanted the "stupid little half breeds" out of her sight, out of Hogwarts and out of her frizzy and snarled hair.

So the only reason she would want to see her use her powers was to…

"She wants to expose our powers…" Iggy muttered too low for the non-mutant people to hear, sort of shocked.

Tally cocked an eyebrow and wrote out _What powers? Do you have a fever? _on a spare piece of parchment.

Umbridge practically growled before trying to attack Iggy with the same method, then her twin and she all but skipped Max.

Tally didn't know whether to sigh in relief or just…blow up or freeze Umbridge with her power.

* * *

Later that day, Iggy had chosen to tote her around the castle with him, examining the colors and all.

She didn't mind, in fact, it really made her smile to see him so dang happy at being able to "see" colors.

"Umbridge pisses me off," Iggy said nonchalantly, muttering _Ew_ under his breath when his fingers brushed over a rather throw-up-like shade of green. "She walks around trying to boss us around all the time."

_I know,_ Talon thought, eyes glancing over the arch of the corridor they were entering, noting the tapestries and the graying of stone, checking for anything out of the normal out of habit. _She makes me feel like we're dancing a Mexican Sombrero dance in her palm, like the one Ella showed us. _

Iggy flashed her a grin, "Sombreros are those weirdly shaped hats, right?"

_Yeah, the one Max didn't let Gazzy buy when we were at the Boarder. Real shame, I had found a cute one and everything. _

"Anyways, what's our next order of business?" Iggy questioned, wheeling around to look at her.

_I don't know_, she thought in a sort of day dreaming type of voice. _I guess we see how this meeting works out and we go on from there. _

"Talon! Iggy!" called a voice from down the corridor. Both of them turned around, robes swishing around their feet dramatically.

"What's up, Hermione?" Iggy asked, sticking his hands in his pockets.

She blinked, "That is such a fairly _American_ saying, Iggy. Well, we've found a place to have our meetings. Meet us on the seventh floor in front of that tapestry of Barnabas the Barby trying to teach trolls to do ballet." And with that, the girl skedaddled away.

Tally grinned ferociously, _Yes! We are making lots of progress! I love this!_

"Yes, whatever you say, Tally," Iggy said, then slung his arm around her shoulders. "Wanna hit the kitchens before we tell Max? I'm starving."

_Sure, who said fried chicken could hold you down for four hours?_

* * *

**A/N: Please review. Next chapter; Dumbledore's Army and lotsa more. Will Tally resolve her problem with Nudge? Halloween? Umbridge? **

**I have Mexican relatives and respect everyone, so my disclaimer: I am not racist but apologize if that line may offend anyone. **

**Review and I'll update this one faster. **

**And the American saying, just felt like putting it in there. ^-^ No offense meant by that either.**


	10. Kick Butt Bird Kids

10

After Iggy and Tally came to us (laughing like idiots and most likely happy after causing Umbridge another couple of gray hairs), we all made our way to this room that Hermione told them about and were stuck in front of it.

"Well, what do we do?" Gazzy asked after a while of just starring at the door for at least a minute.

"Yeah, leader," Iggy said. "What great death-defying plan do you have for us now?"

I gave him a pointed glare (a wasted one too) then sighed.

How did they expect me to come up with something on the spot? I hadn't been born into this world—none of us had. Hell, we were of a place with needles, cages and torture; not wizards and wands and magic.

So what did I say?

"We wait for someone to come along and get to wherever we need to go. Hopefully they haven't forgotten about us."

"They're going to get bombed if they forget us," Iggy muttered under his breath. Gazzy nodded enthusiastically, and they both delved into a world filled with explosive schemes and pranks.

I resisted the urge to hang my head in shame and chastise them at the same time.

Bird boys will be bird boys I guess.

Angel was leaning her head comfortably on Tally's shoulder, the older girl carrying her, just talking mentally I guess. Fang was in a dark corner, blending in. Total had opted for hanging with the House Elves today, trying to teach them about clothes or something I think. Maybe etiquette?

Who knows.

Well, we were there waiting for a long while before we started losing our tempers. Tally and Angel were staring that wall with creepy blank eyes, as if they were going to somehow get a new power and laser beam the wall down. (Wouldn't put it past Angel to actually _have_ that power, really.)

After a while, Harry appeared with Hermione and Ron.

I looked at them with a face that screamed, 'Finally, let's get this show on the road, buster!'

Harry walked pasted this wall, back and forth three times, while we looked at him like he was a whackjob. Did he want to pace his way to China? Was he contemplating what color man-panties he was going to wear tomorrow? Yeesh, and I thought Nudge was a pain when she was deciding something.

However, after those three times (I swear I even heard him muttering something under his breath) a freaking _door_ appeared. Out. Of. Nowhere.

Harry reached for the brass handle, opened it (with Hermione murmuring his name…)

The Flock and I just tumbled into the room after them, looking around warily, no escapes, nothing, just things to hurl around if we got caught up in a scuffle.

Iggy grinned and spread out his huge wings, the tips not even touching the walls. "I like this room," he said briefly.

"Iggy!" Gazzy crowed, "the things in here are so cool! A mirror with faces in it, all smoked up, and oh wow, I bet we could use this for one of our little bombs…" Both were quickly enveloped in their little world—Tally wandering behind them with Angel, bending down to her level and examining things with her in their much more subdued and quiet way.

More people piled into the room (and wings were still loosely folded, enough for comfort, enough so that no mishaps happened) and before we knew it, Hermione was ready to elect a leader.

* * *

Of course, when Hermione said the word leader, Tally's eyes snapped to Max.

"So everyone thinks Harry should be leader?" Hermione asked again.

Max stewed a bit. That much was obvious. She had been leader and probably had more experience in actual physical fights than Harry could ever dream of—not to mention she had this little super hero-syndrome. Sometimes, the flock teased her and said she would strap on some spandex and start flying around being Super Max.

But the flock had to stay relatively stony faced during the whole choosing of a name for the group.

Tally leaned back onto her elbows, having sat down on the floor like the rest of the flock, and just watched the little witches and wizards talk amongst themselves.

A tap on her hand made her turn her head. Angel was looking up at her with intense ocean-blue eyes. _Max says we're going to spar. _

Tally blinked her gray eyes and gave a slight nod. _Heard that Iggy?_

She watched the corner of his mouth quirk up as he bobbed his head, hair flopping into his eyes.

Almost simultaneously, the flock rose from their seats on the floor, and wandered off to a corner of the room, beginning to stretch a bit.

"Gazzy with Angel, Iggy with Tally, Fang with me—no bombs, no powers, no knives," she said simply, cracking her knuckles.

And Tally couldn't help but think they were just doing this to show off a bit.

Max's ego had been bruised a bit, so she wanted to show these weenies that the ones who knew battle were the hybrids in the room.

"Angel and Gazzy are up first."

By then, she could feel people starring at them.

The two blonde haired bird kids took up positions in the corner, and before you could say "fish fly" (fry? Tally didn't know) they were a flurry of recombinant, fighting fury. That's really how all the sparring went. It just increased in intensity as the different sparring groups went. Iggy's and Tally's was sort of laid back and slow, a battle of the senses.

Tally moving silently and sleekly, Iggy straining to hear her, reach out for her, or even smell that fruity shampoo scent in her hair. Needless to say, it was the least violent fight.

But Max and Fang tried to hold nothing back.

Overall? Survival 101—the bird kid definition of it.

* * *

**A/N: Just something quick and very…non-substancial to say I AM CONTINUING THIS STORY! Just buying a life (they're real cheap at Target), drama (sadly, what comes with buying a life) and other stuff has me tied in a ton of ways. Any suggestions for pranks? Any thoughts? **


	11. Expelled!

Chapter 11

The coming weeks?

Yeah, they were loaded with a gazillion homework assignments, and tons of tiredness (of the non-running-for-our-freaking-lives-move over-buster-that's-my-bed! type) do to sneaking around and being super sneaky ninja bird kids.

But other than wanting to keel over from the homework overload (I swear my poor hand was going to just fall off and walk away from all the abuse!)...they were pretty good.

I mean, we felt so good, smirking at Umbridge and her little beady eyes, knowing we were doing something that would likely put her extra large toad-sized granny panties in a knot.

She could probably could tell something was going on with us—us meaning the flock—since she kept an extra close eye on us. What did she think we were going to do? Start ranting off our master plan to kill the minister of magic? And she would be there to haul us into Azkaban and take all the credit?

Nah, we're far too conniving and misbehaving to meet anyone's expectations.

Like that one prank the Pyro Trio pulled right before our first DA meeting!

One that involved Total, Fang (Hagrid's dog, not bird boy Fang) and the other canines in the vicinity chasing around Umbridge, who was howling for help. In a what looked like a partial cat-transifiguration!

See, Gazzy, after seeing how horrible Tally and Iggy were with transfiguring stuff, came up with a grand plan.

First, he would imitate the Minister's voice (how he heard it, we will never know. The boy can make a bomb out of fake barf and toenail clippings, I bet…I don't question his methods anymore.) and lure Umbridge out into the hallway, where Iggy would lie in wait at one end of the hall, wand at the ready.

While Tally would be around the corner, all the dogs she and Total could find waiting for her and Total's signal.

Needless to say, the outcome was a very ugly cat-thing running around the castle, within an inch of her life at the hands of some hungry dogs.

We all busted our butts laughing.

* * *

Tally smiled, twirling her hair as she sat beside Iggy in front of the Black Lake.

Max was up to her ears in work, so she was definitely feeling the pressure by now.

By her and Iggy?

They could just relax…plan pranks—and her personal favorite!—make out.

Okay, so that last one didn't happen often since Iggy was usually off in la-la-land thinking about different bombs to make, or examining colors or asking Tally to give him a picture of the general vicinity or something she thought was pretty.

She'd thrown more than one mental hissy fit his way because of it. Hell, when they were in the kitchens one day, she threw a bowl of jiggly chocolate pudding over his head!

Well…it wasn't particularly romantic…she wasn't surprised he tackled her down, trying to put blood pudding down her shirt.

Oh man, and during the DA meetings!

Well, it was funny really. How one moment she'd be ready to knock out all of Iggy's annoyingly white teeth...or smack the taste out of his mouth—the next moment she'd be ready to just haul him off to some dark corner in the Room of Requirement, and have an intense lip lock session. Something the locals called snogging?

Whatever.

Tally just found it intensely funny how people reacted to them.

She was literally whaling on Iggy, smacking him hard as heck, fists flying all over the place, and kicking and wings flaring up to assist in jumping back to dodge his hits. Really, to someone who wasn't used to be around bird kids—it was a fantastical sight.

Iggy came out of it with a few bruises, and Tally came out with her fair share of them too.

The funny part?

They had fallen to the floor and tried to make carpet angels afterward. Having a semi-mental conversation that was along the lines of what Jeb and Snape would look like in tutus and blonde wigs.

And then Tally had rolled over onto Iggy (he complained a bit about the added weight) and just pressed her lips to his briefly, grinning a grin that would put the Cheshire cat to shame when she pulled away.

That was just before the meeting ended. After she ran full tilt up to their room and rolled around with him some. In a very playful mood.

Her brother probably would have commented, but he had temporarily climbed down from his holier-than-thou-and-right-wingman standing to go make out somewhere with Max. Come midnight, Iggy and Tally couldn't find them _anywhere. _

So what did they do? They crawled into bed like good little mutants and knocked out.

What?!

It was stressful being as conniving as them.

Plus, it's not like they were sleeping seperately. Nope.

Iggy had felt cold, therefore he climbed into her bed and hugged her.

A very shirtless Iggy hugging a very panda-shirt wearing Tally.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Iggy asked softly, startling her out of her thoughts.

Tally turned to him, lightly yanking at some grass, _How I'm fairly cold. Won't our toes turn yellow and fall off if we're out here too much?_

Iggy chuckled, poking her side with a white finger, "They turn black, not yellow, Tally. But alright, let's go inside."

_Hey! No poking! Dude, I just ate! Do you know what havoc you have just wreaked?!—_"Wrought," Iggy corrected.--_The food in my stomach was having a nice day and all until you Mister I-can't-keep-my-dang-finger-to-myself poked me! Grr! If I get indigestion or that diarrhea-thingy, it's on you! And eewwww! Isn't that the same finger you pick you pick your nose with! Ahh! I need hand sanitizer!_

"Tally?!" Iggy called out, taking chase as soon as he heard her feet running across the grass and the slight ruffle as her wings snapped against her back to create as little resistance as possible. "Come on Tally! I haven't picked my nose since I was nine-ish!"

_Liiiiiies!_ She thought back, dashing straight into the warm castle.

* * *

Do I really need to mention how incredibly weird it was to have the two impaired bird kids in our flock run straight into the Great Hall as if they had seen an all-you-can-eat-for-free sign at McDonald's?

No?

Good.

Honestly, I was just talking to the Weasley Twins idly about a possible idea to "sneak" to the resident winged-pranksters when they come sprinting through the door, smiling like idiots and skidding to a stop in front of our table like a pair of race cars. (Tally doing her usual thing and diving behind her twin brother, who also did his usual thing and pulled a scowl onto his face. Someone really didn't like being a shield for his little sister.)

"Tally!" Iggy crowed, getting down on his knees and slapping his hands together in a pleading way. "I swear my hands are clean!"

"Whoa, mate," Fred Weasley said. "What've you been doing with your hands?"

"Got to keep it PG, you sly birdman. We've got ickle first years at the table!" George Weasley added, slinging an arm around Iggy's shoulders and motioning to Angel and Gazzy with his chin.

I don't think it really occurred to him that, er, Iggy was blind and couldn't really see who the heck he was pointing at. Really, pointing around Iggy was about as useless as giving Gazzy pepto to try and fix his digestive problems.

"I don't know what the hell you two nutjobs are talking about," Iggy said, trying to shrug off George, his face twisted as if he discovered the girl he had been kissing for so long was actually a big old hairy eraser with a severe case of athlete's foot. "But last I checked, it didn't involve two amateur pyros trying to tell me what to do with my girlfriend."

Ouch.

Tally got up from behind Fang, blinking at the three boys. Her hands suddenly getting that little twitch that came whenever she had the unbearable urge to freeze something—for better or worse.

The Weasley Twins seemed to blink, not expecting this reaction from Iggy.

"_Amateurs_?!" Fred asked incredulously. "Who are you, a fifth year, to criticize our masterpieces?!"

"We should set your hair on fire, you little spineless git!" George continued.

"And guess what I'll set on fire? You're nonexistent peni—!"

Tally froze them, at last, after I elbowed her sharply.

What happened next was really...weird.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" A scream came from the high table.

We all turned around quickly, already knowing who the hell had let out that high pitched annoyance of a sound.

"You all saw it!" Umbridge screech. "Ghost froze those three using her hands! Expelled!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked pointedly. "Freeze people with her hands? Sure that'd be spiffy—if it was _possible._" (I was so going to beat Tally into oblivion when this was over.)

"You're just covering up for your own halfbreed kind, Ride! Snape, you saw it, didn't you?" Umbridge said, stomping her foot and halfway turning to the Slytherin head of house.

Oh crap.

Please don't tell me the one guy who hated me almost as much as the whitecoats was going to rat us out.

Ugh, we were so roadkill.

"Saw...what exactly, Dolores?" Snape asked slowly, turning to eye the pink clad toad. "Miss Ghost perform a notably quick but elementary _Pertrificus Totalus_ spell?"

"No! She did not use a wand! She did not wield a wand in any way shape or form whatsoever!" Umbridge continued, convinced of Tally's oh-so-deserving blame. "You mean to tell me none of you saw that?!"

"I believe," Professor McGonagall said casually, "I had something in my eye right up until now. Though I assure you I was looking straight at the Volaticii table, Dolores."

"Yeah, what you're implying we can do is completely crazy, teach," I addressed, putting a hand on my cocked hip. "Now if you'll please excuse us, we got a mountain of homework to do."

I gave Tally a hard nudge and she took out her wand and made the proper movement, while clumsily trying to unfreeze the three boys using her power.

Before Iggy or the redheaded twins could get a word in edgewise, we dragged Tally's boyfriend off.

Gazzy immediately went up to him and began explaining what had happened, in extreme detail while the guilty mute girl kept pace with the blind boy.

Out of sight, out of mind...the best motto when it came to filtering out Umbridge's pestering protesting screams behind us.

Damn, Tally was going to get an ear full out of me later.

* * *

Somehow, the hate of Umbridge increased with that little...situation in the Great Hall.

Tally was completely downtrodden when she came out of it, and flew straight out of the Nest when Max finished her extreme You-screwed-up-big-time lecture.

See, Tally wasn't as prone to try and defend herself as Iggy...or Fang...or Max even. Really, she just couldn't. What would she do, mime her argument? Write it all down on some post-it note? Something told her that it wouldn't be as effective as actually getting to vocalize her side of it—to be able to let her voice scale up in volume till she had made her point.

It was such a pain in the butt, having to have to rely on people all the time to tell others what _you_ should be able to say!

Honestly, she really did love Iggy, but she got tired of having to wait for him to explain stuff for her.

Just like he got tired of her having to have to show him what she meant with her power, or having to have to wait for Angel, Nudge or Gazzy to describe what was happening in detail.

She landed on the ground, her boots hitting dead and dry leaves with a crunch, and looked up at the huge tree. One that she had the impulse to climb.

So she did.

She looked for a grip, ignoring the undeniable sting in her fingers as she would ignore any other minor pain, put her foot up, and began to scale the tree like a squirrel.

Why didn't she fly?

Because that would take the work out of it.

Flying for her was effortless. Like walking. Like talking for Nudge.

But to climb?

She wasn't part bear or cat or flying squirrel, so she had to think about where to put her hand next, gasp a bit when she slipped down a bit.

But eventually, she made it to a branch where she could sit comfortably, and look out at the condemning forests.

Everything was going to hell.

Nudge didn't want to talk to her anymore...her Nudge!

She had nearly gotten herself expelled from Hogwarts, one of very few safe havens she had ever encountered...

Tally sighed.

_Next Imma fall out of the sky and forget to fly. God! I need to think before I do things!_

* * *

October came and went...

And it just seemed like life with my Flock was becoming some abominable soap opera.


	12. Death Defying Dives

**AN: Let me just clear this up. This story is in an Alternate Reality from Dark Blue. Hence why you don't see a time gap big enough in Dark Blue for this story to fit in. And why the flock in Dark Blue don't pull out wands to start getting rid of their enemies. Or why they don't retreat to Hogwarts when they get in a big predicament. This story takes place right after Max and the girls return from Europe and after the Flock reunite and Tally wakes up. This story probably won't have many things in common with Dark Blue other than Tally. And a few other details that might flow well with this. So whether or not character deaths happen in this one too is yet to be seen. Who knows? Maybe there'll be a happy ending? (Doubt it.)**

* * *

Chapter 12

When she had been in the forest after exposing her power to the whole of Hogwarts, she had been expecting Iggy or Fang to come and try to comfort her. Iggy because he had a habit of coming to find her whenever she ran off, even when she forgot to tell him she was off to pee or something. Fang because he usually found her if her boyfriend didn't—always with some "wise" and "seasoned" older brother words that would usually calm her down some.

But did they come?

No.

It was probably one of the biggest disappointments she had had so far. Far surpassing that one time when Max didn't let them in to Barbecue Restaurant while they were in Texas.

They always came to get her. So what reason did they have to stay?

Fang might have been weathering out Max's rants before he came to fetch her. Maybe he was just too caught up under the leftover waves of anger from their leader that he couldn't possibly fly out to look for her.

But Iggy had no excuse to her knowledge. He might have gotten lost wandering into the forest, but he always risked that before. Or else, Max was holding him hostage and yelling at him to.

Her lips twitched, already imagining how Iggy would crawl into her bed, pretending his ears were going to bleed and if he died he wanted it to be in her arms. She almost laughed. She'd likely roll her eyes and tell him to stop being such a baby. Then he'd complain about her hurting his feelings. She'd smack his head. He'd call her abusive. She'd bite him…and it would all keep on going till they knocked out sometime of the night.

But she wasn't planning on going back to the Nest now, was she?

Instead, when she looked down the tree, she found a blonde waiting for her. And it wasn't Gazzy or Angel.

_Draco Malfoy,_ Tally noted. He looked as if he had just run out of the Castle by the way his hair was wind blown. Or a nasty wind might have disrupted his "perfectly" gelled hair. (She could just picture that. Malfoy walking down the lawn towards the Forbidden Forest, when suddenly a huge gust of wind, complete with a zillion dried leaves, hits him so hard that he stumbles for footing, cursing and red in the face, his hair all over the place. And Malfoy goes on into the forest muttering how his father would hear about Nature being such a damn pain in his ass.)

He was standing there, hands in his black trouser pockets, crisp white collar shirt, vest and Slytherin robes. Simply staring at her as if he was contemplating something completely out-of-character for himself.

She didn't care that they were blatantly staring at each other, with no shame. Not even when their gray eyes met.

"Are you planning on coming down anytime this month?" he drawled, taking a tiny step back.

_And why should I?_ she thought bitterly, pursing her lips much in the same way as Malfoy himself usually did. _I see no reason._

But of course, Malfoy not being adept at reading her little mannerisms yet and not really having any telepathic abilities missed out on her witty retorts. "Well then?" He continued, oblivious to her retorts.

Sighing, Tally jumped off the branch, her hands stinging from the scrapes she had gotten from climbing up there in the first place. Her wings extended to soften her descent, and she landed in a crouched position, right in front of Malfoy.

She narrowed her eyes at him, mouthing the word "What?"

Malfoy shuffled his feet a bit. He seemed indecisive. At least to her. Being around stoic people (evil stoic bastards if they were whitecoats) all her life seemed to have made her rather good at discerning people's emotions. _Geez, someone should tell Malfoy he looks like a silly blonde girl with how he's fidgeting._

"You're coming to the common room with me," he said bluntly, after a very painful pregnant pause in which the frigid air kissed their skin.

Tally cocked an eyebrow, what reason did she have to go with him? Nothing. All Malfoy had ever done was cause all of them strife. Well, at least he seemed fond of causing Harry, the Weasleys and Hermione strife. The only thing he had really done to the Flock was try to befriend them. Albeit, he was a bit tactless while attempting it.

It was plain as day that she was asking a silent "Why should I?"

Malfoy, noticing this, replied in kind. "We saw what happened in the Great Hall. How even your own kind turned on you, and are extending our invitation to you, to come to the Slytherin Dorms, since we all agreed that it would be a bit…odd for you to return to the Gryffindor Nest. Awkward and all—call it a sense of pity from us,"—he grimaced a bit here—"We do, after all, know how it is to be completely challenged by others of your own kind."

Honestly, at that moment, he could have told her he was going to hand her over to Erasers as soon as she woke up, and she would have gone with him anyways.

So it wasn't really surprising when Tally began walking to the castle only pausing to let Malfoy lead her through the dungeons.

* * *

Iggy smiled at Hermione, listening to her babble about her ideas. He had gotten her started when he briefly mentioned to her how totally incredible her ideas were.

And they were!

Being in a flock where sometimes not being the best at fighting, speed or powers, really got him down sometimes. Not that anyone else was good at building bombs. But he could only use that so often. And in a fight, he was easy to disable, just chuck a stink bomb or something of the like, and he was completely incapacitated. If there was a big enough boom, then he'd have a ringing in his ears that would temporarily disorient him.

Making him a burden.

Angel could control and read people's minds, so she was good at helping with tactics and strategy.

Gazzy could see where he was throwing his bombs and confuse any enemy with his mimicking.

Fang and Max were the best fighters.

Nudge could maneuver around and dodge like no other with her flexibility.

Tally could stop enemies in their tracks and completely destroy small stuff if she wanted to, making up for her being one of the weaker (strength and speed wise) in the flock.

But him? He could _cook_ the enemies to death. And that wouldn't work unless he decided to haul a giant fridge and oven around with him, everywhere they went.

So he felt comfort in talking to someone else who was a bit more on the brainy side like him; someone who didn't need to depend on him in a fight.

Hermione wasn't all that bossy, as people made her out to be. She actually was really kind and caring. (Even though he got annoyed when she treated him like a cripple, steering him around as if he hadn't already mapped out the layout of the Common Room…. But she wouldn't ever find that out, unless they were in a dire situation.)

She helped him out with spells. With schemes. With a lot of things he wouldn't ever go to the rest of the flock to ask.

"…and that's why house elves should be treated like wizards!" Hermione finished and he could hear the smile on her lips, the light in her brown eyes.

A shadow of a thought crossed his mind but he shook it off.

It'd be best if he let Tally calm down rather than run out there to have her blow a very important part of his anatomy off.

She'd been very close to doing that the last time he ran out to get her and caught her with toilet paper and her pants down.

* * *

The thing is, when you are a flock leader, you have to mind what you say sometimes, and sometimes you have to put your foot down and say _no._

Of course, if your flock just randomly started drifting a part and leaving you with no one to _lead_, you'd have a very odd problem on your hands, then, wouldn't you?

Nudge was rooming with some fourth year Hufflepuffs, not wanting to be in the same tower as Tally.

But Tally wasn't here either. She had taken off into the Forbidden Forest after I had finished screeching my lungs out at her for nearly getting us kicked out.

And the only reason Iggy hadn't stormed up here to tell me himself was because he was off making gaga eyes at Hermione.

Gazzy had taken off with the Weasley Twins to learn something new, having convinced them that everything in the Great Hall was a big misunderstanding.

So the only people in the Nest that night were Fang, Angel, Total and I.

But I'll admit, it just really sucked being so alone in the Nest, Angel a few floors below us softly talking to Celeste, her teddy bear, and Total.

"Do you think I was too hard on Tally?" I asked softly, looking up from my book at Fang who was sitting on the ledge of the window.

He turned to look at me, no emotion in his eyes. After some silence he finally answered, "She screwed up. If we had gotten kicked out, it would have been her fault, in that sense. But Iggy screwed up in losing his temper. The Weasley Twins screwed up pissing Iggy off. And we screwed up in not stopping it before it got out of hand."

I sighed, "You sound like the Voice with all that fortune cookie crap."

Fang closed his eyes then resumed gazing out the window, as if looking for something. His eyes flashed with recognition for a second but then he climbed off the ledge, closed the curtains and crawled into bed. "Sleep," he directed at me. "Quidditch tomorrow."

I smiled a bit and put away the Defensive Theory book I had had on my lap. I blew out the candle and murmured a good night.

But my frazzled thoughts just kept taunting me when I closed my eyes.

If the flock ended up turning into some sappy soap opera then it would be _my_ fault, not anyone else's, but my fault.

* * *

Nudge looked around at her Hufflepuff friends, grinning at them, but hiding her pain at the same time.

The yellow hangings and plush, fat armchairs, the paintings of past Hufflepuff wizards and witches, the yellow bulletin board and the Hufflepuff badger…they all seemed so alien to her.

She missed being with Max, with Iggy, with Fang, with everyone. She missed playing and babbling about whatever floated into her head with Angel. Running around with Fang, or arguing her heart out with Total about _why_ wedges looked cute.

"Nudge, come on, we need to get t the pitch before the game starts or we won't get good seats!"

Nudge looked up, some strands of her magically straightened hair flopping in front of her eyes. "Oh! I'm coming don't worry I was just sort of day dreaming you know! Hold on I'm going to go get my jacket, okay?" She said in a flash before running toward the Hufflepuff Nest and getting it.

She hoped she could go back to the Gryffindor Nest soon, if only to see her family and be normal again.

* * *

Tally simply watched as Malfoy, Greengrass, Zabini, Parkinson, Nott and the two oafs named Crabbe and Goyle were decked out in Slytherin colors and gloves, ready to run out there with a little ditty they had made all by themselves. And little yellow, crown shaped badges that read "Weasley is Our King."

Did Tally really want to go to a stupid game?

_Do I want to see a bunch of twerps flying around like they belong in the air?_

"You'll be fine here, Ghost?" Greengrass sniffed, adjusting her gloves again.

Tally didn't miss the undercurrent of her words. They were really asking if she wasn't going to snoop around the place and try to trick them or something. She had, after all, roomed with the Gryffindors for the year.

She gave a grim smile and waved Malfoy and the others away. They gave her an odd look, the faintest flicker of suspicion clouding their eyes before they left her.

The rest of the flock would probably watch the game, but she didn't feel compelled to subject herself to the cruel stares and whispers any longer.

Tally sat down in one of the low backs couches, paying no attention to the buttons shaped like angry skulls. She extended her gray wings, running her hands over feathers and fixing any that were skewed from sleep. Usually, Iggy did this for her and she would do the same for him. However, Iggy being the slick bird kid he was, seemed almost as fastidious as her about it. She blamed his overly sensitive fingers.

Iggy was such a sweet person. Sometimes he was a sexist pig, but he was _her_ sexist pig. She wouldn't trade him for anything or anyone.

She loved him down to every last freckle and every last strand of reddish blonde hair on him, every tan feather.

Tally jumped to her feet when she finished with her feathers, picking up her bag from the corner where she had stowed it in, tossing in the little trinkets a few of the Slytherin first years had given to her when she had said she had never painted her nails or put on make up. (She found the first years were the more innocent of the Slytherin, finding them a bit easier to trust then the older kids.)

She climbed out of the Slytherin Dungeon, and set off in a run. She was going to find Iggy!

She didn't know what was happening, but she felt this incredible pull on her heart. Like a line looped through a fishing hook just tugging on her chest to go wherever it led her. And she had a feeling she'd find Iggy at the end of it!

Tally frowned, wheeling around in the sky a few times, the muscles in her wings practically sighing with the relief of use. The cold on the ground having been completely eliminated once she had started flying, the suns rays and her movement far overpowering any chilliness she might've felt.

He wasn't in the Great Hall. Or the library. Or the kitchens.

So that left the stadium.

She frowned, she wasn't about to go swooping down on the Quidditch game. She wasn't about to muscle her way through a crowd either. So that left climbing up on the edge, near the…

An idea struck her and she grinned.

She had flustered both Max and Umbridge yesterday.

Might as well go on a little solo mission—even if it wasn't as flamboyant as the rest, she figured she could still scare them a bit.

* * *

_Weasley cannot save a thing,_

_He cannot block a single ring,_

_That's why Slytherins all sing:_

_Weasley is our King._

_Weasley was born in a bin,_

_He always lets the Quaffle in,_

_Weasley will make sure we win,_

_Weasley is our King._

That was all Iggy could hear—that stupid chant coming from those nose-picking, butt-licking Slytherins.

"—and Pucey's dodged Alicia again, and he's heading straight for the goal, stop it, Ron!"

And the Gryffindors were getting creamed by the sound of all the groans on his side and the wild screaming coming from the Slytherin side, he guessed by the sudden pause in the song.

He was wondering where Tally was.

She probably would have agreed with him to not come at all. To enjoy a nice few hours alone instead of blasting their ears off at this game…what type of school event was this anyways? There were no cheerleaders whatsoever!

"—and Katie Bell of Gryffindor dodges Pucey, ducks Montague, nice swerve, Katie, and she throws to Johnson, Angelina Johnson takes the Quaffle, she's past Warrington, she's heading for the goal, come on now Angelina—GRIFFINDOR SCORE! It's forty-ten—and is that Ghost up by the Professors stand?"

Everyone's head swerved, wondering what the hell was happening.

As it so happened, Tally was hanging standing in front of the teacher's stand, her wings out, and hands out balancing. A piece of paper held in one of her hands. When she came in front of Dumbledore, grinning. The most relaxed facial expression most had seen her with.

Dumbledore looked a bit disapproving but read her paper anyways.

KNOW WHERE MY FLOCK IS?

THEY RAN OFF WITHOUT ME.

Short, sweet and to the point. Meant to deflect any questions they might aim at her. And as legible as she could manage, given what little schooling she had.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and calmly pointed them out, in the Gryffindor side of the stands.

She nodded her thanks, saluting, before she jumped up, nearly smacking several people's heads as she made a short swoop over to where they were, shaking her fist when a Bludger nearly smacked into her.

Iggy laughed a bit when an all too familiar person started to part through the mass of students like Moses and the Red Sea, and continued laughing.

_Come on Iggy! Pull out your wings and let's blow this popsicle stand! _Tally encouraged, her long black hair whipping around her from all the wind.

"I'm coming Tally!" he chuckled, climbing onto the seat and jumping into the clear sky.

It wasn't like anyone would really mind that they just up and left, would they?

* * *

We all jumped down to the rescue.

Harry had caught the snitch but Draco Malfoy was viciously throwing heated words at Harry.

First we were going to congratulate Harry, but when Malfoy started provoking the Twins and Harry, we only saw fit to step in.

George and Harry managed to thwack Malfoy a bit before Fang and I made quick of holding them down. But I'll tell you, holding down a squirming Harry Potter, a Harry Potter who had murder written in is green eyes, was not an easy task.

Fang was struggling with George, trying to muscle him back while I started trying to drag Harry back.

That is, before Malfoy brought out his wand and yelled "_IMPEDIMENTA!"_

It was as if all the ground had been knocked out from under us, and we all were sent hurling through the air like little ragdolls.

I winced, Harry's head having slammed into my jaw when we finally landed on the ground.

I glanced at Fang, ignoring how Madam Hooch was screeching her lungs out and pointing her finger everywhere and at everyone. He somehow managed to get a split lip and was picking himself up gracefully in a way only he had mastered.

Angel, Nudge, Gazzy and Total had been circling above us, almost the same way they had when Fang got the bejeezers beat out of him by Ari and some other Erasers when we were at a beach in New York.

This was sure as hell the last Quidditch game I came to…too much freaking drama.


	13. Black Wristbands

Chapter 13

_We all jumped down to the rescue._

_Harry had caught the snitch but Draco Malfoy was viciously throwing heated words at Harry._

_First we were going to congratulate Harry, but when Malfoy started provoking the Twins and Harry, we only saw fit to step in._

_George and Harry managed to thwack Malfoy a bit before Fang and I made quick of holding them down. But I'll tell you, holding down a squirming Harry Potter, a Harry Potter who had murder written in is green eyes, was not an easy task._

_Fang was struggling with George, trying to muscle him back while I started trying to drag Harry back._

_That is, before Malfoy brought out his wand and yelled "__IMPEDIMENTA!"_

_It was as if all the ground had been knocked out from under us, and we all were sent hurling through the air like little ragdolls._

_I winced, Harry's head having slammed into my jaw when we finally landed on the ground._

_I glanced at Fang, ignoring how Madam Hooch was screeching her lungs out and pointing her finger everywhere and at everyone. He somehow managed to get a split lip and was picking himself up gracefully in a way only he had mastered._

_Angel, Nudge, Gazzy and Total had been circling above us, almost the same way they had when Fang got the bejeezers beat out of him by Ari and some other Erasers when we were at a beach in New York._

_This was sure as hell the last Quidditch game I came to…too much freaking drama._

_~.~.~._

Iggy and Tally were curled up around each other on their bed in the nest, she was occupied with leaving little wet kisses all over his neck and jaw while he mumbled stuff to her and cupped the back of her head and wrapped his arm around her lower back.

"What's got you so happy all of a sudden?" he asked when she came back up to press her lips against his forehead softly and then lay her head on his chest.

_Just happy that I'm with the most awesome bird boy in the world,_ she thought cheekily.

Iggy barked a laugh, "That's funny, I thought you were with Max on not giving me a big head?"

Tally rolled her eyes and reached up to bite his lower lip. She smirked as best she could when his eyes widened comically at the situation, _I could care less if I give you a big head. In fact, I'll be happy. It just means more for me to love and kiss. _

"Way to lay on the sap thick," he muttered, bringing her head back down to kiss her.

She shook her head, disentangled herself from him and pulled out big book to read over.

She laid down on her stomach on Iggy's bed reading, and he moved so he was lying perpendicular to her—his head being cushioned by her, in his words, "pillow-y butt"—his own book in his hands that was being read to him by a lofty female voice. It had been one of the first spells Tally and Fang had put themselves to finding, and once they did they learned it than taught it to Iggy and everyone in the flock just in case.

She smacked him for the butt comment then blew him a loud kiss before returning to the tome she was reading.

She was catching up on some particularly nasty spells she had asked Sirius to deliver to her via Dumbledore. Fang had read through it already and handed it off to her.

Just as she was about to shut the cover she felt Iggy shifting around behind her.

Before she knew it, she was filling up Iggy's head with her silent laughter from being tickled.

Somehow he knew that he had been forgiven for leaving her alone after her fall out with the Flock.

~.~.~.

I had it with this stupid Quidditch stuff.

I mean, we go only to be practically shamed in front of the whole school for defending Harry and the Weasley Twins from Draco Malfoy's sharp mouth. We nearly went deaf from all of the idiotic screaming.

At least there weren't any redheaded cheerleaders in this sport for the boys to make cow eyes at.

Though watching Pansy Parkinson flounce around in a tiny cheerleading skirt would be a pretty funny sight.

After the little scuffle with Malfoy, Umbridge had come after all of us, except Malfoy himself.

So, logically, Fang and I had arrived at the daily question of the day: how would Umbridge piss off the flock today?

She had trouble finding out a suitable punishment for Fang and I, but she had us in suspense on that. She said she would call us back eventually to implement her punishment. Then again, we didn't really worry much about that seeing as anything she could come up would likely pale in comparison to the horrible nightmares all of us went through when we were kids, being put through mazes with electric lined floors.

I doubt she could come up with anything that might even begin to compare.

On top of that, I had the mounting concern about Iggy. He kept on saying that he loved Tally with all of his heart, but I couldn't help but shake the feeling that the blind boy was cultivating some feelings for the resident bookworm, Hermione Granger.

When I crawled down out of the nest, a very ruffled and flushed looking Iggy and Tally coming out last minute, and we walked leisurely over to the Great Hall.

On the way over there though, we saw one of the worst educational decrees ever.

_**Educational Decree Number 25**_

_The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students and ambassadors of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges as may have been placed by other staff members._

I could have thrown up.

I could have fainted.

But the most overwhelming feeling within me at the moment was anger and….claustrophobia.

Since Umbridge had removed the one thing that was keeping her from completely running the school—the teachers and Dumbledore—she had turned Hogwarts into a very dangerous school.

One that strangely resembled Itex.

And upon entering the Great Hall with less skip in our step than ever, we were met with punishments all around: one that frightened us more than anything in the world.

Umbridge came up to us, all her four chins wiggling around like flesh colored plate of jello.

"Hello Ms. Ride. I have brought with you your punishments! Now all of you shall put on these here bracelets," she handed out deceivingly simple black bands that we all hesitantly put around our wrists. "And be advised that _none_ of you, not even the mutt, are allowed to fly without my _express_ permission."

The Great Hall was silent.

"You can't do this," I muttered, trying to extend my wings outside of my shirt but finding that whenever I did a sharp pain went all down my back, burning my nerves to a crisp. "Y-you can't! We're out of your jurisdiction! We're ambassadors not students! You can't punish us like this!"

"Ms. Ride, I do believe that Educational Decree number twenty-five states, '_The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students and ambassadors of Hogwarts.'_ You are well within my jurisdiction now, Ms. Ride."

At that, Tally, Gazzy and Iggy took a defensive stance and Fang gathered Nudge and Angel under his arms protectively.

I stayed silent.

What do you say to someone who is literally robbing you of your freedom? Of the one good thing you have out of your existence.

All I could think of to do was raise my eyes over Umbridge's head and glare at Dumbledore hopelessly.

In that one look, I tried to pass on all the betrayal and hatred I felt.

I left the Great Hall, and Iggy and Fang shepherded the rest of the kids with us.

Skipping breakfast would be the least of our worries for now.

~.~.~

Tally and Iggy were on a couch, creating a protective cage around Gazzy and Angel, same as Fang and I had Nudge trapped between us in the Nest's Common Room. The fire flickered ominously, casting dark, long shadows on our faces.

The black bands on our wrists glared at us maliciously.

"Should we leave?" Nudge hedged, rubbing her forearm.

Fang shook his head, "I doubt it. Dumbledore wouldn't give us an escape that easily."

I agreed, "He made me do this 'Wizard Oath' thing, if I break it, than I die."

Tally's jaw dropped and big red splotches started appearing on her face.

"Tally says, 'You made an unbreakable vow? That's the most idiotic thing you've done to date!" Iggy exclaimed, not faking much of his irritation.

Tally was probably giving him an encyclopedic run down of the "unbreakable vow" telepathically.

"Since when have you become the authority on wizard stuff?" I muttered foully at Tally.

Beside me, Fang tensed grouchily, "We read a book on it before term started. It was pretty high up on the dangerous scale in _One Hundred Things Not To Do A as a Muggleborn Unless You Desire a Very Painful and Torturous Death."_

I paused a second, noticing the death glare I had earned from the dark haired twins.

"So, it's settled; we can't go anywhere, but what do we do with our _literal_ grounding?" I asked again.

"What if we asked Dumbledore to talk to the minster?" Angel asked innocently, petting Total and staring intently at his black fur.

"It's 'minister,' Angel," Iggy provided.

Gazzy bit his lip, "Isn't this Umbridge lady really close to him?"

I nodded at him, "Yeah, she even has pictures of him hanging in her office."

"Tally says that at the Malfoy's Yuletide Ball, she might be able to pull some strings with the Board of Governors."

If I had been drinking anything, I would have done a spit-take, "Since when are you in with the Malfoys?"

Tally shrugged, and then began to twirl her hair.

"I think I can convince Hermione to try and see if there's some political loophole to this," Iggy muttered, unaware of the heated and furious look that appeared on his girlfriend's normally apathetic face.

"And Max and I can research how to break the curse on the bands," Fang said, intervening between the potential scuffle.

"But what will we do?" Nudge asked, crawling out of her suddenly meek shell, motioning to her and the younger siblings of the Flock.

"This is entering dangerous territory, Nudge. Her _punishment_ is almost torture and I don't want you guys to provoke the toad into frying you guys into some Kentucky Fried Bird-kids," I said to the younger kids, frowning.

Maybe I could still protect them from this horrible woman.

~.~.~

Tally frowned at herself in the mirror of the girl's "loo."

Day gray eyes, olive skin, and pinkish blown-up lips like that one American actress who collected children like stamps.

And her hair…

…Her thick, black hair that brushed the top of her butt when she tied it up in a high ponytail.

And then there was Hermione.

Hermione who was infinitely smarter than her, who had curly, brunette hair and fair skin…

Iggy like touching things with texture, so she could guess why he preferred Hermione's curly hair.

And he was one of the smartest people she knew. And she just…wasn't. When she got out of the Facility, she was scared of the ocean for Pete's sake. She didn't _know_ what the ocean was until Iggy explained that the horrendously big body of water was the ocean and the little tan colored grains were part of the beach.

Tally could have burst into tears.

Her eyes filled to the brim with the watery stuff but she shook her head and rubbed them away with the sleeve of her robes.

So what if Hermione was her better?

If Iggy preferred the bookworm over her…than okay. She'd survive.

She was Talon Ghost, twin to Fang.

She…she could do anything.

It was funny how unconvincing a person could be when they talked to themselves in their heads.

~.~.~

Iggy was in a study session with Hermione, and the girl was happily reading aloud to him, trying to find a loophole in Umbridge's punishment, just as he said he would.

He nodded every once in a while and asked a pointed question which would make her face alight with enthusiasm as she delved into yet another heavy tome to search for the answer.

He was, however, unaware of the fact that Tally had just walked into the library at the moment with Max and Fang. She had been miming something in an animated manner to them, having previously changed the subject of her red, puffy eyes to the state of disorder that Fang and Max's floor of the nest was in.

She was just miming using a can of Pledge wood cleaner and Lysol disinfectant on their rooms because the house elves weren't meeting her standard of cleanliness when she spotted Iggy and Hermione.

She came to a dead stop in the library, a seed of both jealousy and desolation welled up in the mouth of her stomach. Little droplets of moisture began rolling mournfully down her cheeks.

Max and Fang weren't oblivious to this; they noticed how her face paled and her lip quivered ever so slightly. They noticed how the tears trailed down her face right in front of them.

When she turned on her heel and went sprinting down the hallway—nearly smacking the bird kids in the face with her long, whip-like hair—Fang went to go after his twin but was stopped by Max who jerked her chin in Iggy's way rather forcefully and then went hauling butt after Tally.

Fang sighed petulantly then stomped his way over to the table, banging his fist on it to get Iggy's attention, "We need to talk."

Iggy cocked an eyebrow, "Can it wait a bit? Hermione and I were just on the verge of a break through here."

Fang twitched and put his hand rather forcefully on Iggy's shoulder, "No, it can't."

Hermione glanced between the boys nervously, her nose hidden behind a mammoth book with a title that kept moving around when Fang looked at it.

"Look, man, get off me! We're trying to save the flock here, so take your attitude somewhere else because it's not appreciated here!" Iggy said, nearly snarling, his blind blue eyes screwed up in anger.

Fang's nostrils flared and his black bangs shadowed his eyes. Had anyone seen him, they would have thought his eyes were spitting sparks at his flock mate. "Fine."

And with that, Fang turned on his heel and began to look for his twin sister and his girlfriend.

If Iggy didn't get his priorities straight and wouldn't listen to the second-in-command, then he'd get Max to beat the crud out of him until he learned his lesson.

He always responded to Max's violent lessons better than Fang's "gentle" words anyways.

~.~.~

Tally waded through two feet of snow onto the grounds, rubbing stubbornly at the tears that fell from her eyes in a steady stream and wiping the stream of snot from her nose on a wad of paper she had stolen from the girl's bathroom.

It wasn't fair.

Why did he choose Hermione?

Why would he want someone short, wingless and with her priorities so messed up that she considered being expelled worse than death?

Tally could have blown the girl up when she was sleeping, but she liked to think that she was better than that.

And to think, that just a little while ago she had been happily kissing and nuzzling Iggy with love, telling him that they would always be together, even in death.

And then this huge freaking boulder got thrown in her way.

She made note to keep her thoughts changing, she didn't want him hearing her thoughts.

She doubted that she'd ever give him that privilege ever again.

"Ghost, what are you doing?" called a familiar voice with an upper-crust drawl from behind her.

Tally whipped around, quickly arranging wiping away the rest of the tears. Draco met her gray eyed gaze steadily with his own gray eyes and a quick agreement passed between them wordlessly.

"Come with me, then," he muttered, extending his hand. "And for Merlin's sake, take my cloak, you're going to catch your death."

Tally took his cloak, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. She pulled up the hood on the cloak and walked away with him, ducking her head when she saw Fang and Max run out onto the grounds yelling her name.

She didn't want to deal with the flock for now.

"You'll be coming to my family's Yuletide Ball, I suppose?" he asked quietly, a sneer nowhere near his voice.

Tally gave a quick, jabbing nod.

"Good, my father wants to meet you. He convinced Umbridge to deactivate your wristband until we return from the holiday," he said more to himself than anything.

She, for whatever reason, gave a grim smile.

Lucius Malfoy wanted to see her wings. So he would.

She gave no further thought as to who else would probably be at the Ball.

So much for "even in death."

* * *

**A/N: This story is officially off of hiatus. Sorry this chapter isn't as long as what some of you are used to, but I'm trying my best to bring this story back with my busy college schedule. Please tell me your thoughts in a review? :)**


	14. Mourning Dove

_Why did he choose Hermione?_

_Why would he want someone short, wingless and with her priorities so messed up that she considered being expelled worse than death?_

_Tally could have blown the girl up when she was sleeping, but she liked to think that she was better than that._

_And to think, that just a little while ago she had been happily kissing and nuzzling Iggy with love, telling him that they would always be together, even in death._

_And then this huge freaking boulder got thrown in her way._

_She made note to keep her thoughts changing, she didn't want him hearing her thoughts._

_She doubted that she'd ever give him that privilege ever again._

_"Ghost, what are you doing?" called a familiar voice with an upper-crust drawl from behind her._

_Tally whipped around, quickly arranging wiping away the rest of the tears. Draco met her gray eyed gaze steadily with his own gray eyes and a quick agreement passed between them wordlessly._

_"Come with me, then," he muttered, extending his hand. "And for Merlin's sake, take my cloak, you're going to catch your death."_

_Tally took his cloak, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. She pulled up the hood on the cloak and walked away with him, ducking her head when she saw Fang and Max run out onto the grounds yelling her name._

_She didn't want to deal with the flock for now._

_"You'll be coming to my family's Yuletide Ball, I suppose?" he asked quietly, a sneer nowhere near his voice._

_Tally gave a quick, jabbing nod._

_"Good, my father wants to meet you. He convinced Umbridge to deactivate your wristband until we return from the holiday," he said more to himself than anything._

_She, for whatever reason, gave a grim smile._

_Lucius Malfoy wanted to see her wings. So he would._

_She gave no further thought as to who else would probably be at the Ball._

_So much for "even in death."_

* * *

Tally sat on her ebony stool, in front of her talking mirror, in _Malfoy Manor,_ rather awkwardly. She simply stared at the reflection, as she had done many times in the past, and wondered who the girl staring back at her was.

In the days before winter holidays officially began, she had gotten into a fight with Iggy.

It wasn't one of those little fights that they shrugged off and was immediately forgiven with a good snog in a cupboard.

No.

It was an explosive fight.

When she had left the Slytherin Common Room, she found Iggy looking angry—his face flushed red, brows pulled together ferociously and a vein throbbing in his temple—outside of the Great Hall.

She didn't even breathe, so she had no idea how he managed to hear her silent footsteps, she never knew how he could differentiate her boots from everyone else's boots.

She took one hesitant step back, rubbing her eyes again to make sure there weren't any tears running down her face any more, and tried to ready a response in her head—some sort of witty and sharp accusation.

But he made all of her thoughts evaporate into the very air she breathed.

His lips curled up into a snarl, his biceps bunched up—only then…only then did Tally realize what he was going to do—and he grabbed her shoulders, slamming her into the nearest wall.

Tally hadn't realized how her muscles slackened, her breath escaped her, the peculiar way her eyes fogged over and Iggy's enraged voice reached her from a very faraway place.

In that moment, Tally felt her heart shatter into a million, sharp, pointy pieces.

She didn't know what happened after that. Her head slammed into the wall again and she felt something sticky roll down her neck, through her thick strands of black hair.

Tally slid down the wall unseeingly staring at the wall in front of her.

Draco had told her that Fang had been there when Iggy slammed Tally against the wall.

That when Fang saw her literally _lose hope_, saw Iggy smack her around, he ran at his flock mate and slammed his fist into the boy's jaw.

Draco picked her up after that, and rushed her to the Hospital Wing.

It was there, that through some bizarre miracle, Draco managed to get his father in the Hospital Wing and force several people's hands into allowing Tally to stay with them over winter holidays.

Tally combed her fingers through her hair, staring absently at the mirror in her room.

In the days following the incident with Iggy, she had found herself feeling hollowed out. As if someone had cut her straight down the middle and scooped out all of her insides with a shovel for their amusement.

She tried to guard her thoughts from Iggy as well…but she found that no matter what she thought, she got no reaction.

She knew, that even across long distances, she would have gotten some sort of angry letter—she _had_ been cursing him out.

But instead of an angry letter, a ferocious call or some sort of sign that he was alive at all, all she got was silence.

And that in itself scared Tally more than anything.

Because at least anger was recognition.

Anger meant that Iggy was receiving all of her messages and responding to them.

Silence meant either of two things: he was ignoring her or…he couldn't _hear_ her anymore.

Which meant Tally was alone in her crowded room again.

Sure, Draco was there, and had been with her since the incident, but he didn't _know._

He didn't know how it felt to have giant wings hanging out of her back, a stigma that ostracized her from every human on the earth, magical or not.

He didn't know what it felt like to be a mute, to be unheard by everyone except through some sort of proxy—he was privileged, he hadn't experienced vary many obstacles in his life.

And lastly, on some deep level, she knew Draco liked her even with her freakish wings and abnormal looks…

In that way, Draco scared her.

Tally pushed herself up from her table and walked over to the bed where a house elf had set out some robes for her.

She put them on without much of a thought to practicality anymore, forgetting to wonder how the lace and frills might affect her ability to roundhouse kick or do a flip, and just pulled them on.

She pulled up two locks of hair from either side of her face, twisted them into a curl, and clipped them in the back, the enchantments on the snake clip automatically primping and curling her long inky strands into something more purposeful looking.

She did everything Cissy had taught her to do.

If she thought to hard about it, Tally would get a headache.

She was on a first name basis with Narcissa Malfoy née Black.

Because of her, she was actually being given the opportunity to be a girl.

She wasn't an experiment.

She wasn't a disabled mutant.

She was simply a witch… a _witch_ with _wings_.

* * *

Grimmauld Place was stone silent when we got there as soon as Winter Holidays had arrived.

One, because Arthur Weasley was in St. Mungo's.

Two, because Iggy was the biggest idiot in the history of idiots.

I could honestly say, that when I saw Tally being swept away by Malfoy, blood dripping down the corridor from her busted head, I felt an all consuming fury.

And when I got to the boys, who were in the middle of a fist fight in front of the Great Hall, I forced them apart, panting and all.

I had grabbed Fang by the back of his shirt, made him stumble away, then stepped in between, grabbed Iggy's fist with one hand and forced him up against the wall with my forearm.

He didn't take it too well, and soon, it escalated into a full on brawl.

He swung his arm around and pushed me away, throwing himself back at Fang, resuming with the blurring fists.

And when I realized that Iggy, our blind pyromaniac, was just as blinded by rage as we were, I went to a nearby torch, doused the flame and calmly walked up to Iggy.

When I saw an opening, I smashed the butt of the candleholder against him, effectively knocking him out and feeling horribly relieved when his body sagged to the floor like some pale sack of potatoes.

And as soon as we managed to get our flockmate away from prying eyes and screaming teachers, we locked him in the Nest.

The kids were all screaming of course, yelling about having heard a rumor that Iggy had murdered Tally and that her ghost haunted the Great Hall now, that they saw Iggy beating a defenseless Tally, about Hermione blubbering about something or the other.

So Fang and I had to systematically assure them that no, everything they heard was false.

Then, our magical mind reader saw straight through our lie and said, point blank: "That's not the truth," her blue eyes accusing and big and doe-like.

I had to mutter that no, it wasn't the truth, that the truth was something much uglier.

"Iggy hurt Tally. So we're trying to fix them."

That was when Fang and I set out to the Hospital Wing, and when we came back, it was empty handed.

Apparently Draco freaking Malfoy thought it was dandy to kidnap one of my flock members.

That night, all I did was curl up on Fang's chest and stare hopelessly at my hands, feeling every tortured breath that came out of him, the way his fists opened and closed.

That night, he managed to cool down, fix me with one of his piercing stares and said, "We'll get through this, Max."

But when we arrived at Grimmauld Place, it didn't really get better. The kids kind of avoided Iggy—even Gazzy, who could usually cheer Iggy up out of most of his funks with some wacky bomb plan involving nothing but toothpaste, floss and peroxide.

When Dumbledore approached me, I fixed him with a glare so cold that I hoped he realized I was ready to beat him with his spine if he so much as even _offered_ up some obscure advice on flock matters.

* * *

_Tally sifted through the contents of the shopping bag, Iggy's hand on her shoulder to see what she was seeing._

_Which still made him react like a kid in a candy store._

_"Yeah, that should be everything. Hey, want to go get some coffee?" He asked casually, taking the bag out of her hands._

_Tally tilted her head one way before tapping his nail once._

_It's not like the coffee would suddenly turn into Erasers, right?_

_They had a pretty good time at the coffee shop, and a good "chat" on the way back. Tally exploding a boulder, giggling when he cupped his hands around his ears, saying that it was music to him, a goofy smile on his lips._

_They were laughing (which in Tally's case was just a bunch of breathless, odd sounding- well, sound), practically falling all over each other when Iggy suggested they sit down._

_Tally agreed, tapping Iggy's nail twice._

_"I can just _imagine_ the damage your power could do, Tally!" Iggy said._

_She put her hand on his cheek, sending him pictures of her sneaking into the headhunter's chocolate stash and stuffing her face, whirling around when he entered and putting her hand in the air, effectively freezing him while she disappeared around the corner._

_"Geez, it'll be much easier to steal Max's dessert with you around," Iggy said. "I_ _mean_, _it's like having a female Fang, but on our side! We can get away with anything!" He said, punching the air._

_She sent him a picture of cleaning utensils then one of her glaring._

_"Oh, yeah, and all the mayhem at the very low cost of keeping my room clean, __so__ pricey, I have half a mind to call you cheap, Tal," Iggy said sarcastically, rolling his sightless eyes._

_Tally sighed, leaning against his shoulder. "I guess using your ability too much takes a lot out of you, eh?" Iggy asked, getting no other answer other than her nodding her head into his shoulder._

_Iggy leaned back against a tree, making sure it was carefully between his wings. (Since he _really_ didn't want to fetch a splinter out of his feathers, or have to go whining to Max about having a_ boo-boo _like Gazzy usually did…)_

_Tally stared up at him, ruffling the feathers of her own wings before pulling them close to her body, tucking her head under Iggy's chin._

I wonder why it's just so comfortable to be with him, She thought to herself. Any other person, I would have put my boot in their butt and sent them on their merry way… but it all just feels natural with him.

_Tally relaxed into Iggy, not aware that Iggy was wondering the same thing save it was more of "chucked a bomb at their head" instead of "boot in their butt" for him._

_He laid his hand across her waist, before taking a deep breath and lifting up Tally's chin, placing a soft kiss on her lips, his mouth awkwardly melding against hers._

_She was caught off guard, to say the least. She was freaking out, but promptly kicked that panicky-ness out off her head and settled into her more collected self, moving her lips against his, admiring the odd wet, warmth of his mouth._

_Just as he was about to angle his head to kiss better, they both bristled._

_Quick as lightning, they leapt up, falling into fighting stances._

_Tally's eyes flickered over all of the Erasers, a total of four._

_She brushed her hand on Iggy's shirt, showing him what they had to deal with._

_"Blow them up? Or freeze?" He whispered out of the corner of his mouth before he dodged to the side as he heard an Eraser charging his way._

_Tally was preoccupied, delivering a fierce roundhouse kick to another. As soon as she had an opening, she clapped once before (making sure to grab the bag of groceries, cause God knew she didn't want to come back for them) fisting her hands then opening them in a rapid movement, blowing up one Eraser, raining icky Eraser-y chunks everywhere._

_Talon barely had a chance to make a _Yuck_ face before reality hit her again._

_"AUGH!" Iggy exclaimed before ramming his elbow into another Eraser. Tally ran over to him, grabbed his hand a sprinted over to the nearest clearing, blowing up the other stupid wolf hybrid that tried to take a snap at them. Her teeth gritted together when she felt another chomp at her calf__; and in the same freaking place as the other Eraser had bitten her.__ She gave a hard kick in its direction so it would release her before catching up to Iggy._

_"U and A?" Iggy asked, turning his head around, listening for anything._

_Tally, tapped him once, _hard_. Before both gave a hard flap of their wings and took to the air. "I __knew__ I should've forced Nudge to fork over my bombs!" Iggy cursed._

_Tally just shook her head before—_

SLAM_!_

_Her head jerked back with the force of the blow, blood dribbling down her lips._

Oh, now it's on, dang it.

_Another Eraser took a bite at her arm, leaving gaping holes in it._

Or maybe not, _she thought dizzily before forcing her eyes open and struggling. _Great, Imma have to go get those again, _she noted sourly as the bag of groceries fell to the ground with a resounding _splat_ sound._

_Then, an epiphany hit her._

_She kicked up her leg, aiming right behind her and nailing the __male__ Eraser right where the sun didn't shine. Otherwise known as his crotch._

_He went tumbling down to the forest floor, curling up into fetal position._

_She took a gasping breath of air before noticing that she was free falling, Iggy having looped around and beaten the snot out of the one that had taken a fair chunk out of her arm._

_For good measure, she just blew them both up before fleeing with Iggy, making sure her wings brushed against his with every down stroke._

_"Man, can't mutants go grocery shopping any more?" Iggy asked. "Nooo, we have to get mauled by other mutants, who choose to attack the blind pigeon and mute swan."_

_Tally smirked through her pain_. Isn't he just a bundle of ironic fun.

Tally woke from the dream, her eyes half lidded.

And then she cried—because it wasn't a dream. It was a memory, a distant memory of her first kiss with Iggy.

And now, she wasn't sure she would every get anymore kisses with him.

She wasn't even sure _her_ Iggy was there—her dorky, pervy, pyromaniac was practically gone.

And she was in mourning.

* * *

In the days after Tally fell into an odd monotony. She followed Draco around the Manor, accompanied him to Diagon Alley from time to time, and sometimes he sat down and tried to talk with her.

Amongst the plush carpet, rich furnishings and watchful portraits, Draco Malfoy tried his damnedest to speak to her.

On some days, she felt an odd sort of appreciation for his awareness of her.

On other days, she was cast into a sea of realization that he would never be able to speak to her properly.

So, as a way to maintain conversation, Draco had found a spell that would allow her to write out what she thought in the air.

Internally, she had frowned, thinking that she could just send him mental pictures, but logically, it made sense. So she worked at communicating with him.

It took Tally a couple of intense hours, but she finally managed it.

And when she did, Draco flashed her a grin, not a smirk, but a _grin. _

She was so startled by the way his pearly white teeth looked that she dropped her wand and accidently hit her wing against a desk.

Draco merely chuckled and helped her back up.

* * *

"Mother thinks she can get you your voice back," Draco began one day, looking up from the book he had been reading to her on poisons.

It was something so out of left field that Tally had to stop and look up into his gray eyes.

Without even speaking he interpreted her answer, "Well, she figures if a healer can banish bones and regenerate them from scratch, then they can banish damaged vocal chords and reconfigure new ones."

At that point, Tally got up from her seat and fixed Draco with a blank stare, and he regarded her openly.

Then she launched herself at him, hugging him as tightly as she dared without breaking him, subconsciously scattering pecks over his face.

It was then that the whole in her heart began to mend, in the three days before the Malfoy Yuletide Ball.


	15. Loving You

_And when I realized that Iggy, our blind pyromaniac, was just as blinded by rage as we were, I went to a nearby torch, doused the flame and calmly walked up to Iggy._

_When I saw an opening, I smashed the butt of the candleholder against him, effectively knocking him out and feeling horribly relieved when his body sagged to the floor like some pale sack of potatoes._

_And as soon as we managed to get our flock mate away from prying eyes and screaming teachers, we locked him in the Nest._

_The kids were all screaming of course, yelling about having heard a rumor that Iggy had murdered Tally and that her ghost haunted the Great Hall now, that they saw Iggy beating a defenseless Tally, about Hermione blubbering about something or the other._

_So Fang and I had to systematically assure them that no, everything they heard was false._

_Then, our magical mind reader saw straight through our lie and said, point blank: "That's not the truth," her blue eyes accusing and big and doe-like._

_I had to mutter that no, it wasn't the truth, that the truth was something much uglier._

_"Iggy hurt Tally. So we're trying to fix them."_

_That was when Fang and I set out to the Hospital Wing, and when we came back, it was empty handed._

_Apparently Draco freaking Malfoy thought it was dandy to kidnap one of my flock members._

_That night, all I did was curl up on Fang's chest and stare hopelessly at my hands, feeling every tortured breath that came out of him, the way his fists opened and closed._

_That night, he managed to cool down, fix me with one of his piercing stares and said, "We'll get through this, Max."_

_But when we arrived at Grimmauld Place, it didn't really get better. The kids kind of avoided Iggy—even Gazzy, who could usually cheer Iggy up out of most of his funks with some wacky bomb plan involving nothing but toothpaste, floss and peroxide._

_When Dumbledore approached me, I fixed him with a glare so cold that I hoped he realized I was ready to beat him with his spine if he so much as even __offered__ up some obscure advice on flock matters._

* * *

Everyone but Harry spent the rest of the morning sleeping. He went up to the bedroom he shared with Ron over the summer, but while Ron crawled into bed and was asleep within minutes, Harry sat fully clothed, hunched against the cold metal bars of the bedstead.

He kept himself deliberately uncomfortable, determined not to fall into a doze, terrified that he would, in a moment of idling, transform into the serpent again, then wake up and find he had injured Hermione or Ron or someone else...

He shook his head.

The next morning, Harry pretended to have enjoyed a refreshing nap too. Their trunks arrived from Hogwarts, and with them came Hermione later on in the day.

Mrs. Weasley came sometime in the afternoon, muttering rather dejectedly that they wouldn't be allowed to see Arthur until the day before Yule, when the Senior Chief Healer would be there to heal Arthur himself.

Immediately after, Harry found Molly chopping up vegetables in an agitated manner, growling about healers taking vacations at the most inopportune times.

Then the flock came, a little after Hermione.

The House was in a silent chaos when everyone, the flock and Hermione and the rest of the Weasley's, took up roost again.

Harry observed them all silently, depressed.

Sirius was running around like a chicken with a it's head chopped off, just as stressed as the rest of them the Mr. Weasley had been injured but still, Harry could sense his Godfather was happy that he could interact with people again.

Harry flashed his Godfather a smile every once in a while, but for the most part, he lurked around the house, unseen by everyone else.

From what he could tell, the flock was going through some internal problems, involving his bushy-haired best friend and the pyromaniac couple.

Of course, once Hermione had arrived—a little before Max's gang who had opted to take the train rather then the Night Bus—she had thrown herself at him, crying her eyes out.

It had taken him awhile, but in the end he got the whole fiasco out of her.

"_He hurt her, Harry, he hurt Tally!" Hermione had said roughly, wiping her tears away with a handkerchief she had summoned. "I didn't know that he intended for us to be an item, or to even interpret it as that, but he actually hurt his girlfriend!"_

_At that point, Harry ran his hand through his hair. _

_He knew that Max and her family were supposed to help them through Hogwarts and protect them to some extent, so why would one of them break down and go on a violent tirade? It just didn't make sense. _

"'_Mione, are you sure he injured her?" Harry had asked, clenching his fists. _

"_Yes, Harry! I saw it with my own eyes! She was going to approach him and then he stormed up, and bashed her head in!" she exclaimed, then promptly proceeded to blow her nose. _

"_Then Malfoy took her?"_

"_Yes, and then Fang and Max got mixed into the row and began fighting!"_

_Harry frowned. _

_He liked Tally. She was silent but she was funny, and mimed all sorts of things to him every once in a while. _

_He had wanted to confront her about Malfoy but had kept his mouth shut—at one point, he had thought she was as bad as the rest of the Slytherins for having associated with the Malfoy heir. _

Harry hadn't known what to make of the situation.

* * *

The day finally came that she would go to St. Mungo's with Narcissa and Draco.

Lucius was somewhere off, doing things for the Ministry, likely pulling strings at Narcissa's beckoning or doing something for a person Tally really didn't want to think about.

Walking through the Hallways of St. Mungo's her healed boots clicking on the linoleum floors—it was odd.

The hospital didn't stink of alcohol and bleach the way Muggle hospitals did, and for that she was a bit thankful.

But that didn't stop her from being anxious about being in a place that looked every bit the part of a hospital.

The hairs on all over her body stood on end, underneath her billowing sleeves, her hands were shaking; she pulled in her wings tight against her back as an added precaution.

Draco, seeing this from the corner of his eye, walked closer to her and asked what was wrong quietly.

Tally chewed on her lip, glanced at him quickly then at the floor, and shook her head.

He stared at her steadily after that, then nodded and kept on walking beside her.

The hallway was filled with portraits of Healers of days past, and they stared at her openly, at the wings on her back, when she past by.

Every once in a while, she felt the urge to duck her head and run the other way.

_It's just a hospital, suck it up, you've taken down armies of Erasers and Flyboys, why should walking in here to have a magical whitecoat fix your voice up be_ _this difficult!_ She told herself, following meekly behind Narcissa.

They were on the first floor, the one meant for Creature induced injuries. The hospital staff had told Draco's mother that since Tally was technically a creature, given her wings, the creature injuries' floor would have the best chance of fixing her voice without causing any more damage.

She smirked a bit at that.

Whitecoats could be considered monsters—she didn't know if the magical part would fit though.

She scuffed along her boots, her heart beating a million miles an hour, magic flowing about the building like crazy, and all sorts of people with creature induced injuries running around.

* * *

The examination was quick.

The spell work was quick.

Tally didn't know how to describe having her wrecked vocal cords removed and replaced in around three hours.

That's how long it took for them to fix her with magic.

Three hours.

Draco was next to her the whole time, having insisted that he stay with her while they did the procedure.

She grasped onto his hand and held it in a vice grip, pretending he was Fang for a while, then admitting he was Draco.

The Healer had vanished her chords as soon as he had explained the procedure, had her drink some potions, and then cast a couple more spells to accelerate the growth of the tissue.

While she was frowning at the tastes and the odd feeling and things growing in her throat, the Healer explained to Draco how re-growing tissue was easier than re-growing bones. It took less time, by a long shot, and she would be able to use her voice within seconds of the procedure being done.

The whole time that she sat patiently in the chair, with her mouth closed, she thought of how much she loved magic.

She thought of how much magic had fixed her life.

She didn't have to fight to live.

She didn't have Whitecoats breathing down her neck.

She didn't have to camp out in the woods.

She was free.

She was like Fang in that regard sometimes.

She wanted to live on an island with her flock and her friends and just be.

She supposed that magic had given her that island.

Suddenly, Tally felt an immense amount of burning in her throat, so bad that she hitched forward in her chair, putting her head between her knees and opening her mouth in a silent scream.

Her insides were burning! She could feel tongues of heat licking at her throat, killing her slowly!

Next to her, Draco was demanding to know what the Healer had done to her.

She didn't hear the reply, because as quickly as the fire began, it ebbed.

She opened her eyes, staring at her boots, blinking.

The three hours were up.

Tally licked her lips hesitantly, then lifted her head and stared at Draco.

Her face broke out into a grin, "Calm down, Draco."

She was in his arms, being hugged before she knew it.

* * *

Tally was ecstatic as she left the Healer's office; she had gone sprinting out of the office smiling to her heart's content, Draco, lingering behind her.

"Draco!" she said happily as she ran circles around him.

Her voice was nice, it wasn't too deep or too high pitched, it was different than the voice she had imagined she had when she was little, but it was nice. It had a nice honey texture to it, but still a bit of bite to it.

It was deep, dark and beautiful, and sounded like a feminine version of Fang's voice—which was a given, considering she was his twin.

"Draco, I can speak!" she said, putting her hands out and twirling in place, her dress curving up around her.

"I can see that, Tally," he said smirking, his hands in his pockets as he saw her bounce around.

"You don't understand, I can _speak!"_ she said, then turned to him and held him by the soldiers. "I can _speak!_ I haven't had a voice in _ages!_ Merlin, what was that song that I used to love so much, oh! _'__Oompa Loompa, do-ba-dee-doo, I've got a perfect puzzle for you. Oompa Loompa, do-ba-dee-dee, If you are wise you'll listen to me. What do you get when you guzzle down sweets?'"_

She giggled and twirled away from him, spotting Narcissa walking up to them from the waiting area, "Mrs. Malfoy! I can speak! Thank you so much; I don't know how much more I can say this, but thank you! You don't know how much this means to me! It's better than getting a hot dog after starving for a week, or getting a bath after camping out away from people for months, you have no idea what this means to me, ma'am!"

Narcissa didn't know what to make of the Muggle references but smiled at the girl nonetheless, placing her hand on top of Tally's head, "Well, you're very welcome, Tally. It's the least I could do after making Draco smile to much."

"Mother!" Draco exclaimed.

Narcissa cocked one perfectly black, shapely eyebrow at her son, "Am I not allowed to say what I see?"

Draco flushed and Tally giggled mercilessly at him.

"I never told you how funny it is when you get embarrassed Draco, I swear, it can make me laugh for years how funny you look when you blush up to the roots of your hair like some sort of mutant, human-shaped tomato!"

Tally walked backwards another step, then felt her back collide with something as she stumbled backwards.

There was a slight second when she realized that Draco's face had melted into one of anger before she fell to the ground, yanking her robes up and swinging her legs around to sweep whoever was behind her off the ground.

There was a flash of familiar checkered Vans flying up into the air to avoid her legs, but Tally gave it no thought as she brought her leg back under her and sprang up with a chop to the person who was landing.

Her lose black hair whipped around with every punch, her skirt moving in countermovement to her hips.

Tally fell into a back bend when a familiar freckled hand launched a punch at her.

And then she realized just whom she was fighting.

_Iggy…_

Time seemed to freeze for her in that moment.

When she didn't hear a verbal response to her thought, something in her finished breaking.

Tally fell with the motion of her back bend, placed her hands firmly on the ground and pushed her self up into a modified mule kick.

She nicked him in the jaw, sending him stumbling backwards, and then she got up and glared at him.

Behind them, was the flock, and next to the flock, were Harry, Ron, the Weasleys and _Hermione. _

"What the hell was that, Ghost?" Iggy snarled, moving to go at her, but was held back by Fang and Max.

"That was me kicking your sorry ass!" she snarled right back. "And in a dress, motherfuc—"

"Language!" Total said from his place in Nudge's arms.

No one else responded.

"Y-You, Tally, you _spoke_," Harry said, his eyes wide, making to step near her.

Tally frowned.

Iggy, in that moment of silence, broke out of Max and Fang's grip, making a beeline to her.

From the corner, a quick _Petrificus Totalus _was cast, hitting him like a brick.

Tally, recognizing the voice, whipped around and yelled, "I didn't need your damn help, Granger! You've made enough of a mess of my relationship as is!"

She twisted around then, and marched away, her hand limply holding onto Draco's sleeve, revealing the true nature of her mood.

* * *

Harry didn't know what to make of the fight.

All he knew was that Tally had been twirling around the hallway, _laughing, _and for a second, Harry didn't think that the girl in the snow-white dress, long liquorish black hair, and giggling voice was Tally.

But the moment that she had stumbled into Iggy, the hulking, bird boy who had been brooding ever since their return from Hogwarts, he knew it was Tally.

It was supremely inhuman how fast they moved.

In the DA, they had some measure control over how fast they fought for the club—trying to go slow enough to teach the members how to fight—but the way they dodged, parried and threw hits was incredible!

And apparently, all of Max's muttering about practical clothes was for naught, considering that Tally fought just as well, if not better, with white robes that looked every bit the part of a dress.

They tucked their wings in for speed, and fluttered them out for balance, swooshed them out to prolong their stay in the air a bit longer.

But for all of the violent moves, Harry couldn't help but think that it was more of a dance than a fight.

Tally hadn't been fighting with the intent to hurt until the very last second when, in a flash of recognition, she realized whom her opponent was.

Harry could respect that she had held back through most of it, unknowing of the opponent.

But when she clipped Iggy in the jaw, Harry realized the significance of the fight.

He didn't need Fang, Max or the younger kids to tell him that the whole time, Iggy and Tally were holding back until the last moment, Harry's eyes were quick enough to realize they were pulling their punches and kicks.

He realized that Tally, the loveable, relatable mute of the flock was _speaking_.

He saw as Hermione threw a quick spell Iggy's way, her eyes tearing up, putting on a brave face as Tally yelled at her.

And then Tally walked away.

It was complicated. But he was determined to corner Max or Fang and ask them what in Merlin's saggy underpants was going on.

* * *

_Tally walked along side Iggy; looking at the sky and making sure he got the picture by transferring it into his head with her power. As soon as Max and Fang were out of Iggy's hearing range she had dragged him out and left Nudge in charge (since she was the one most likely to actually follow __orders, despite her motor mouth abilities__)._

_Iggy was completely out of the loop of course, and had no idea why Tally had dragged him out. She marveled at how he just silently followed her, his blind eyes eerily pin pointing her exact position in the night. _

_And now they were just walking (within running distance of their camp) along under the stars._

_I should have thought this out better…__Tally noted nervously. __How am I supposed to __ask__ him where we stand when I can't ask anyone __anything?_

_And then they were sitting down "looking" at the stars. "So, got any specific reason for the late night stroll in the woods, Tally? Or did you just get an itch to do it?" Iggy asked her, grinning._

_She tapped his finger yes, then no, her hand lingering the second time on his smooth, soft skin._

_"So, your reason is?" he asked, grabbing her hand in the process._

_She scrunched her eyebrows together in thought then tentatively poked Iggy's hand, the one on hers._

_She tried to make the poke meaningful. But how the heck she would accomplish that was _beyond_ her. _

_"Something about my hand?" he questioned hesitantly, confused._

_She poked harder. "What about my hand, Tally?"_

Dang it! Times like this when I hate not being able to talk_!__ She thought. Talon poked him again._

_"I'm not getting anything, Tally," he said with a sigh._

_That was when she threw away any subtle way of trying to tell him (and the strange flip-flop her stomach did) and just got on her knees and pressed her lips against his, one hand helping her keep balance, pushing her top lip in between his._

_She could almost feel the surprise he felt, the soundless __Oh__, before he started responding._

_And by responding…he __really responded. __Hungrily kissing her lips (bumping noses because of their …newness to the world of kissing and—romance), putting a hand on her face—she tingled everywhere he touched._

_His lips moving against hers with increasing intensity his own free hand reaching up to wrap around her waist (both getting breathless before remembering to breathe through their noses)…then it dimmed down until they were just in each others arms._

_Iggy tucked her head under his chin then said cheerfully: "So that's what you wanted to 'talk' to me about?"_

_More of the boiling hot lava flooded to her cheeks and she bit her lip, nodding her head. _Pretty dang sure he can both hear and feel my birdgirl heart putting on its football pads about to tackle his,_ she thought self-consciously. _

_"So this means…you're my girlfriend…?" he asked unsurely, rubbing between her wings, unknowingly making her purr on the inside and arch into his touch._

_Goosebumps rose on her neck and she shivered. She tapped yes._

_"Well then, let me find some Romeo worthy tights and get you a poufy dress Juliet, and we can run off into the sunset…!" he said melodramatically, putting his hand in the air as if to part the air and find his tights and the dress, his eyes squinting like they were looking through a fog._

_Tally shook her head, making the soundless giggling that sounded completely weird to her._

* * *

When she got home, Tally threw herself onto the bed, her vision blur from all of the tears in her eyes; she curled around one of the big pillows and wailed.

The ache in her chest expanded to her whole body, her eyes burned—it was this huge gaping hole, chewing its way through the muscles and bones of her body.

It was as if someone stood behind her with a canon and let it rip.

Her wounds were gushing all over the place, and these weren't wounds that a healer would be able to mend.

How was she supposed to heal?

She _loved_ Iggy!

And he didn't respond.

The basis of their mental connection was for them—the first mated pair in the flock—to communicate! That's what Jeb said!

Maybe…

Maybe they weren't mated…maybe Jeb was wrong.

Maybe love didn't really exist.

It seemed like hours after Tally ran into her room breaking down that someone walked in, and she felt someone sitting on the bed next to her. She simply stared unseeingly out the window.

"It's over, isn't it?" she asked Draco.

There was a pause, as if he was thinking before replying.

"Yes. I believe it's over, Tally."

Tally rolled over to look at him, scanning her eyes over the planes of his chiseled jaw, aristocratic nose and gray eyes.

"But you're still here," she said listlessly.

Draco nodded, "Yes, I am still here… for _you_."

Tally sniffed, rubbing her hand across her nose to wipe away any leftover snot. "I guess its just going to be us for awhile, eh Draco?" she muttered in a bittersweet tone.

He didn't respond to the last question, merely laid down on the bed with her and stared into her eyes, lacing their fingers together.


	16. Hot Chocolate and the Slytherin Monarchs

_When she got home, Tally threw herself onto the bed, her vision blur from all of the tears in her eyes; she curled around one of the big pillows and wailed. _

_The ache in her chest expanded to her whole body, her eyes burned—it was this huge gaping hole, chewing its way through the muscles and bones of her body. _

_It was as if someone stood behind her with a canon and let it rip. _

_Her wounds were gushing all over the place, and these weren't wounds that a healer would be able to mend. _

_How was she supposed to heal?_

_She _loved_ Iggy!_

_And he didn't respond._

_The basis of their mental connection was for them—the first mated pair in the flock—to communicate! That's what Jeb said!_

_Maybe…_

_Maybe they weren't mated…maybe Jeb was wrong. _

_Maybe love didn't really exist. _

_It seemed like hours after Tally ran into her room breaking down that someone walked in, and she felt someone sitting on the bed next to her. She simply stared unseeingly out the window. _

"_It's over, isn't it?" she asked Draco._

_There was a pause, as if he was thinking before replying. _

"_Yes. I believe it's over, Tally."_

_Tally rolled over to look at him, scanning her eyes over the planes of his chiseled jaw, aristocratic nose and gray eyes. _

"_But you're still here," she said listlessly._

_Draco nodded, "Yes, I am still here… for _you_."_

_Tally sniffed, rubbing her hand across her nose to wipe away any leftover snot. "I guess its just going to be us for awhile, eh Draco?" she muttered in a bittersweet tone. _

_He didn't respond to the last question, merely laid down on the bed with her and stared into her eyes, lacing their fingers together. _

* * *

It was insane the amount of pain that Tally was in.

To know that she had invested everything she had into a relationship, into someone she thought she loved and was going to spend the rest of her life with…

…Only to find out that life didn't really work out the way she envisioned it, most of the time.

She curled herself around the big pillow Draco had transfigured for her the previous night before he left her to go sleep in his room.

Which was all well and good, she didn't want him there to witness her breaking down again, she was a magical mutant, and she would be damned if she let anyone think she was a sniveling _weak_ little girl for even a moment!

Though really, the way that she was curled up uselessly told a different story.

Nightmares had plagued her when she managed a few minutes of sleep after the tears stopped falling.

Of blood spattered on walls, bruises splattered across her body in angry shades or red, purple and blue, injuries left to fester and rot for the purpose of seeing her healing rate, of getting her wings ripped off and her voice removed.

Of being tied down and killed.

So, unable to find any peace in sleep, she woke up and hugged the pillow until dawn broke, a dusty orange over the horizon.

Tally was so enraptured by the mixing deep blues, oranges, and pinks that she wandered over to the balcony and pushed the doors open, the biting cold having no trouble infecting her body with only a silk nightgown to defend her.

But the sun felt delicious on her.

She stretched out her wings slowly, feeling the aching, unused joints in them give tiny cracks as they extended, the dark feathers flicking either side of the balcony as they passed over them.

Tally gave a wan smile and stretched her arms out to the side the sighed, the slight happiness granted to her by the sun and her wings seeping down her chest, hips and legs straight into the ground as she dropped and contracted her wings tight against her back.

She had to get ready for the day.

The Yuletide Ball would happen that night.

So Draco decided that they would escape to Diagon Alley while his parents managed everything.

* * *

"You are the most incredibly stupid human being out there," I snarled as soon as we had returned to Grimmauld Place. "Why the hell would you do that, huh? Do you even remember who it was you freaking _assaulted_ for no freaking reason in the castle?!"

My anger was unending, especially since a) I had to look up at the apparent imbecile of my flock and b) since he was giving me this weird blank "I don't care look."

"She attacked me first," he answered simply, crossing his arms and looking at me defiantly with those blank, blind eyes.

The adults were swarming around us, the Flock though, wisely kept a safe distance.

"Oh yeah? When was that? Before or after you completely dismissed her at the castle? Or did it not occur to you that Tally has been insecure and needing to talk to someone but her apparent _boyfriend_ is too stupid to notice! Do you even _have_ a brain?!"

"At the castle—look Max just don't get mixed up in this, okay? Its none of your business!" he said, leaning forward, his face was flushing red.

"What's going on here? Why are you children fighting?" Severus Snape asked petulantly.

I scowled at him, "Flock matters."

Then I whirled back on Iggy who was looking around for a way to leave.

Oh no, I wasn't having any of that.

I marched up to him and grabbed him by the shirt, positive that my eyes were spitting daggers. "Look here, Iggy. You've been screwing up royally lately. And it may seem fine to you to mess with everyone like this, but I'm warning you now, you need to fix whatever freaking problems you have, and fix them soon, or I _will_ kick your ass into next week!"

And with that I whirled around, breathing from my mouth: the tension was so thick, you could stick a knife in it.

* * *

London was completely and totally deserted when Tally and Draco started their trek through it the morning of the yuletide, bundled up to the neck in winter clothes, a warming charm thrown on top just to make sure they didn't catch their deaths as the snowflakes fell upon them.

It felt very weird for Tally to be walking around without pants on. But it had become custom for her to wear dresses around the Malfoy family. She had to look her best for them, if only to show how grateful she was.

And it wasn't even limited to how grateful she was that they housed her and gave her her voice back—they gave her an opportunity to live outside the flock.

And she would forever owe them for it.

"Where shall we go then?" Draco asked, looking around in a way that seemed as if he was nonchalant, but really she could tell he was freaked in a weird aloof way that they were out in Muggle London.

Tally looked around, white snow that had been trapped in her hair flowing down onto the floor. There was no one out, except for a few shops Narcissa said catered to wizards and witched only. She turned back to him, her gray eyes connecting with his own, "I don't know. I have no freaking clue where anything would be."

Draco's lips quirked up, "Mother said that there would be a café and a few shops that sold knickknacks and clothes, if you would be interested."

Tally beamed, pushing an errant lock of inky hair behind her ear, "Sounds great! Let's go!"

* * *

"I'm not particularly sure just _what_ you are trying to achieve, Talon, but if it's looking absolutely ghastly then you have achieved it," Draco drawled, smirking at Tally.

She swooped around, the long cape and giant fox hat on her head, combined with big, bulging glasses. She unfurled her wings and hissed at him, "You dare insult the great Madam Buggy-Eye!?"

"Oh, no, not at all Madam. Please forgive me"—he gave a mock bow, his hand over his heart and light dancing behind his hand—"I've misspoken. I meant to say how positively _ravishing_ you look, that rotting liver color really becomes you!"

Tally grinned.

They were in a strange store that sold clothes not even she would let see the light of day—the owners were setting up for a sale tomorrow but upon seeing "the Malfoy heir and his winged friend" they opened their doors and let them roam. It was a place piled high to the fifteen-foot ceilings with shelves and a ton of useless junk. They had found stuffed game, a few rapiers from the Middle Ages, what the owners had claimed were fossilized basilisk eggs and gnome parts floating in strange shimmering liquids.

Tally had been unsettled by the disorder and was about to turn tail and suggest they find somewhere else to go to when Draco gave her a pointed stare, a challenge in his eyes.

So she had risen to his dare and ran in headfirst, feathers blazing, to try and find something entertaining in the store.

So far, it wasn't the strange things in the store that was entertaining Draco, but Tally and all of her quirky jokes.

Tally chuckled, "All right then, Mister Kiss-Ass, help me get out of these 'ghastly' clothes and lets go find someplace to get food, I'm starving."

Draco could only chuckle and concede to her demands. He stood in front of her, removing the stuffed fox hat from her head and setting it down on a nearby claw-foot table.

Tally stared up at him, a content grin on her lips.

"Turn around, I have no idea how you fastened this cape—it looks lip it'll take fiendfyre to burn through this knot—hold on—quit flinching! It's your own fault, you know!"

Tally winced, "Hey! Be careful with the feathers! This stupid crap wasn't made for wings, how was I supposed to tie it? All I did was a few square knots? OW! Draco, watch it!"

"Oh, shut up, will you?" he said, finally setting her free. "I've finished. Turn around again."

Tally did as she was told, and then began to make quick work of the shoulder length gloves and then looked up at him, "Do I look okay now?"

Draco's eyes raked her up and down, and then he chuckled and approached her again, placing his hands on her hair. "No, you're hair looks like a haystack. Mother will think I did something inappropriate with you if we go back and you look like this."

He smoothed it down, admiring the thick, soft strands. Then he made the mistake of looking in to her spitfire eyes.

He smiled at her, and slid his palms from the crown of her head to her cheeks, tucking her hand behind her ear.

Tally's breath caught when she saw the look on his face, the smile that lit his face up stunning her.

Then a wave of heat engulfed her face and she slipped away from him.

"We should go! I'm freaking starving!"

Draco stood there for a moment after she sped away, his hand still up in the air. Then he shook his head and slid them into the pockets of his jacket, following after his feathered companion.

* * *

As it was, on a huge magical and Muggle holiday such as Yule, most restaurants were closed. So Tally and Draco spent about half an hour searching for an open diner to the musical styling of Tally's growling stomach.

At last, they found a tiny diner tucked away between two huge buildings. It was a Muggle establishment, so Draco was frowning and trying to tug Tally away when she gave him a disapproving scowl and kept tugging him into the diner.

It was tiny, cozy places, with big red leather booths, clean looking tile and homey warm colors. Almost as soon as they walked in, they were being offered frothy peppermint hot chocolate with marshmallows.

The waitress was a kind elderly lady with a frilly apron who didn't even think it odd when Tally ordered a startling amount of food.

"Merlin, you eat like a starving hippogriff," Draco murmured, having barely even touched his soup—Muggle food had a weird after taste.

Tally glared at him, her cheeks blown out and a spoon hanging out of her mouth. "It's not my fault you starve me!" she exclaimed around the spoon, then coughed a bit when she choked and focused on chewing.

"Three square meals a day, plus snacks and dessert, is not starving you," Draco said. "Was it entirely necessary to order one of everything on the menu?"

Tally shook her head vigorously, pointing her fork at him, a cherry tomato impaled on it, "Duh! Do you know how little I usually get to eat? Humans really take for granted what it is to eat regularly—not me. Nope! Food is just to freaking awesome to not appreciate it! I mean you have your savory dishes, your salty ones, your light ones, your spicy ones, sweet-and-sour ones—there's no end! And when you get tired of one country, fly on over to the next country and start over!"

Draco found himself rolling his eyes again. "If you'd stay in the magical world then you would be able to enjoy this whenever you wanted."

Tally paused, processing what he said.

Then she grinned evilly and hopped up from her seat to lean directly in front of Draco, her breath fanning across his face. "Oh, is the mighty Draco Malfoy telling me to stay in the magical world?"

Draco scowled and opened his mouth to give a witty retort, when they heard a loud bang and snarling.

Tally whipped up from where she was sitting and looked outside the window of the diner.

Draco frowned, because in the next two seconds, all color drained from Tally's face.

Erasers. Flyboys. Looking at her from outside the diner with those demented half-snarling wolf snouts and beady red eyes, their suits all torn up and bursts at the seams from where they had given way for the bulging muscles.

She clamped her hand around his wrist painfully and had jumped off the booth they were in, dragging him behind her.

"What the hell is the problem, Ghost?!" Draco yelled, stumbling behind her, vaguely aware of the humanoid figures that had run through the door, little chiming bells announcing their entrance.

She slid across the tile and swung him in front of her through the double doors of the kitchen, the clamor of kitchen utensils, boiling water and chefs speaking hitting his ears.

"Don't ask, just run! We're being chased!"

The wild-eyed look in her eyes was all he needed to nod and keep running.

Tally was freaked out.

How could she have forgotten?

How could she have forgotten that wandering into the Muggle world could mean that the Erasers and Flyboys would try and get her again?

She spared a quick glance back, the metallic shine of the Flyboys giving her enough indication.

She glanced forward to make sure that Draco had swung around the kitchen staff of the only diner that had been open, and then skidded to a stop, throwing her hands open in front of her, exploding the double doors she and Draco had gone running through.

Then she twisted around again, nearly falling to her hands and knees on the slippery tile, then she launched herself through the exit, spotting Draco at the end of the alley.

"Draco! Featherlight charm on yourself!" She yelled, her thighs pumping up and down and increasing in speed as she prepped her wings. She had little space for a take off, and she would be damned if she left Draco alone to fend for himself.

She had no time to make sure that he had followed her directions, her ears picking up on the insane growling and roaring of the robotic werewolves. She simply hooked her arms underneath Draco's and stroked her wings down _hard._

"What in Merlin's saggy—"

"Shush, Draco. Can't you see you're flying?" Tally said, her face flushed shining with sweat.

He could see her determination, as she adjusted him in her grip and angled her wings, and then he looked down when he finally felt his hair whipping around him in the wind.

They were high above London, those metallic werewolf looking things nowhere in sight.

"Ha, Draco?" Tally yelled above the roar of the wind.

"Yes?"

She looked down at him, a sheepish smile adorning her lips, "Do you think you can tell me how to get to the Manor from here? I have no idea where we're going."

He barked a laugh, "Yes. Just keep flying, Talon."

* * *

When they finally landed, Tally glanced at Draco nervously, pulling her wings in tight against her back and crossing her arms underneath her breasts.

"Look, Draco, can we not mention this to your parents?" she asked hesitantly.

Draco stopped, "Why wouldn't we? Talon, those things were chasing us for no reason at all!"

Tally bit her lip and looked up at him, "No. They were chasing me. They had a reason."

Draco froze then grabbed her upper arms. "What do you mean they were after you?"

She took a shuddering breath, "Those things. They were after me. They always have been. It's just that when I'm in the magical world, they can't really find me—look, I'll tell you more later, okay? Just—not now. We have to get ready for the ball."

Ice filled Draco's veins, and he let go of her.

Well, if she didn't want to tell him, then why bother?

"Fine, Ghost, then let us go get ready for the ball," he said stiffly, strode ahead of her.

The air whooshed out of Tally's lungs as she watched his back as he sauntered away, looking every bit like the cold Prince of Slytherin, frigid and unbending.

She shook her head, letting the emotion slip off her face and rising up to her full height.

Two could play at that game.


End file.
